IDF apologizes for strike that killed 3 Lebanese soldiers, says troops believed they were targeting Hezbollah

The Israeli military apologizes for a strike that killed three Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon yesterday, saying it is not battling the country’s military and its soldiers believed they were targeting a vehicle belonging to the Hezbollah terror group.

The IDF says it struck a truck that had entered an area where it had previously targeted a Hezbollah truck transporting a launcher and missiles.

The military says IDF troops were not aware that the second truck belonged to the Lebanese army, adding it is “not operating against the Lebanese Army and apologizes for these unwanted circumstances.”

The Lebanese troops were killed on a road connecting the border village of Ain Ebel to the nearby town of Hanin. The deaths brought the number of Lebanese troop casualties to eight, since all-out war erupted between Israel and Hezbollah last month.