IDF brigade drills for Lebanon fighting on mountainous route

Two IDF soldiers moderately wounded in Hezbollah drone attack on north

Israeli strike in south Lebanon said to kill two, as skirmishes continue on northern border amid heightened tensions

By Emanuel Fabian 5 August 2024, 10:18 amUpdated at 1:36 pm Edit

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

Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Taybeh on August 4, 2024. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)
Smoke billows from the site of an Israeli strike on the southern Lebanese village of Taybeh on August 4, 2024. (Rabih DAHER / AFP)

An Israeli soldier and an officer were moderately wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack on northern Israel in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, the military said.

Hours later, two people, including a Hezbollah operative, were killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon’s Mays al-Jabal.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, several drones from Lebanon were spotted crossing into Israel at around 2 a.m. Interceptor missiles were launched at the drones, although the military did not elaborate if any were shot down.

One of the explosive-laden drones struck near Kibbutz Ayelet HaShahar, located about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the Lebanon border, injuring an IDF soldier and an officer, the military said.

They were taken to a hospital in moderate condition, after sustaining shrapnel injuries, medics said.

The impact also sparked a small fire in the area.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it launched a swarm of explosive drones at an Israeli military base in response to earlier IDF attacks in southern Lebanon.

Another explosive-laden drone launched by Hezbollah struck an area near the border community of Malkia, the IDF said. The terror group also claimed responsibility for that attack.

Also overnight, the IDF said it carried out airstrikes against a Hezbollah weapons depot and other infrastructure in Kafr Kila in southern Lebanon, and troops shelled areas near Chebaa and Rachaya al-Foukhar with artillery.

Meanwhile, on Monday morning, Lebanese media reported that two people were killed in an Israeli drone strike in Mays al-Jabal in southern Lebanon.

The IDF later confirmed carrying out the strike, saying it targeted and killed a cell of Hezbollah operatives flying a drone over Mays al-Jabal. A short while after they were spotted, an Israeli Air Force drone struck and killed them.

Following the strike, Hezbollah on its Telegram channel announced the deaths of Ali Shuqair, a member of the terror group, and Muhammad Hammadi, a paramedic who was a member of the Islamic Message Scouts Association, a Shiite scouts group associated with the Lebanese terror organization. Both were from Mays al-Jabal.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the strike.

In a separate incident on Monday morning, an interceptor missile was launched at a suspected drone that crossed into Israel from Lebanon in the Western Galilee.

The IDF said the incident was “over,” without elaborating, adding that sirens sounded in the area out of fear of falling shrapnel from the interceptor.

Another two suspected drones from Lebanon were shot down by air defenses later on Monday, the IDF said, one over the Metula area and the other over the sea near Nahariya.

A barrage of around five rockets was also fired from Lebanon at the Kiryat Shmona area on Monday morning. According to the IDF, all of the rockets were shot down by air defenses.

There were no injuries in the attack.

On Sunday, two Hezbollah operatives were killed in Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon.

In one incident, the IDF said a Hezbollah operative was identified by troops of the 869th Combat Intelligence Collection Unit entering a weapons depot in southern Lebanon’s Houla, and a short while later, a fighter jet airstrike was carried out.

In the second incident, a Hezbollah operative spotted in the Beit Lif area was killed in a drone strike, the IDF said.

Hezbollah carried out several rocket attacks on northern Israel on Sunday, with impacts reported in Kiryat Shmona, Malkia, and the Mount Dov area. There were no injuries.

IDF drill simulates fighting in Lebanon

Also on Sunday, the IDF announced that troops of the IDF’s Kfir Brigade carried out a drill simulating fighting in Lebanon, which the military said was part of its efforts to increase readiness for war amid heightened tensions on the northern border.

The drill included movement in complex terrain, advancing along a “mountainous route,” and using firepower in various scenarios, the IDF said.

The IDF said troops of the infantry brigade also practiced extracting wounded troops under fire, and camouflage.

The drill was the latest in a series carried out by the IDF for a potential war in Lebanon, but the first by a standing army brigade. Reserve units conducted all the previous drills.

The Kfir Brigade has operated amid the war in the Gaza Strip, in the West Bank, and on the northern border.

Troops of the Kfir Brigade carry out a drill in northern Israel, in a handout image issued August 4, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israel has warned it can no longer tolerate Hezbollah’s presence along its border following Hamas’s October 7 atrocities and has warned that should a diplomatic solution not be reached, it will turn to military action to push Hezbollah northward.

Since October 8, Hezbollah-led forces have attacked Israeli communities and military posts along the border on a near-daily basis, with the group saying it is doing so to support Gaza amid the war against the Hamas terror group there.

So far, the skirmishes have resulted in 25 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.

Hezbollah has named 392 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 70 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.

Tensions in the region have escalated since Wednesday, when Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in the Iranian capital of Tehran, in an attack Iran blamed on Israel, vowing to retaliate.

Haniyeh was killed hours after an Israeli airstrike killed Hezbollah’s military chief, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut. Hezbollah has vowed to respond to the killing of its most senior military commander.

Israel took responsibility for Shukr’s killing, but has not commented on Haniyeh’s death, other than to say that the country had not carried out any other airstrikes in the Middle East that night.

Israel has been anticipating a coordinated attack by Hezbollah, Iran, as well as other Iran-backed proxies in the region, on the country in response to the two assassinations.

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