IDF says four reservists killed in ‘operational accident’ in south Lebanon

Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

Top row, from left: Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, Master Sgt. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose. Bottom row, from left: Cpt. (res.) Sagi Ya'akov Rubinshtein, Sgt. First Class. (res.) Erez Ben Efraim (Courtesy)
Top row, from left: Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, Master Sgt. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose. Bottom row, from left: Cpt. (res.) Sagi Ya'akov Rubinshtein, Sgt. First Class. (res.) Erez Ben Efraim (Courtesy)

Four Israeli reserve soldiers were killed in a suspected “operational accident” in southern Lebanon yesterday afternoon, the military announces.

The slain troops are named as:

Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, 43, from Zichron Yaakov.

Cpt. (res.) Sagi Ya’akov Rubinshtein, 31, from Kibbutz Lavi.

Master Sgt. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose, 28, from Beit Shemesh.

Sgt. First Class. (res.) Erez Ben Efraim, 25, from Ramat Gan.

They all served with the 226th Reserve Paratroopers Brigade’s 9263rd Battalion. Zinershain was a company commander and Rubinshtein was a platoon commander.

According to an initial IDF probe, the soldiers were scanning a tunnel in the Labbouneh area of southern Lebanon when a cache of Hezbollah weapons and explosives stored there detonated.

The cause of the blast is under further investigation, though the military suspects that it was not a Hezbollah booby trap, but rather due to explosives previously placed by Israeli forces there.

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