Hezbollah kills 2 Israeli soldiers in anti-tank missile attack

Hezbollah killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded seven more in an attack on a armored unit that was patrolling near Mt. Dov at the border between Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. The group has claimed credit for the attack.

“The IDF has confirmed that during today’s attack, Hezbollah militants fired 5 anti-tank missiles at the patrolling force near Mt. Dov. One soldier and one officer,” a company commander, “were killed,” the Israeli Defense Forces stated on its blog. “Seven additional IDF soldiers were injured, two of them moderately. The injured soldiers were evacuated to a hospital.”

“The IDF responded to attacks with combined aerial and ground strikes at Hezbollah operational positions,” the Israeli military stated.

According to Reuters, a Spanish peacekeeper was killed during retaliatory air and artillery strikes against Hezbollah. It is unclear if any of the group’s fighters were killed.

Hezbollah claimed the attack via Al Manar, the the group’s official news outlet.

“At 11:25 this morning, the Quneitra Heroic Martyrs group, of the Islamic Resistance, targeted an Israeli military convoy in the Shebaa Farms composed of several vehicles transporting Zionist officers and soldiers,” the statement said. “Several vehicles were destroyed, and casualties were caused among the enemy ranks.”

Several senior Lebanese government officials, including the prime minister, the speaker of parliament, and the foreign affairs minister, praised the attack, according to Al Manar.

Today’s assault was likely launched in retaliation for the deaths of six Hezbollah operators, including the son of slain leader Imad Mughniyah, and a Qods Force general and six other officers and advisers in an Israeli airstrike. The thirteen Hezbollah and Qods Force commanders and members were scouting the Quneitra area in Syria on Jan. 18 when Israeli aircraft launched an attack, killing them all. [See LWJ reports, Hezbollah commanders killed in suspected Israeli airstrike, and Senior Qods Force general killed in suspected Israeli airstrike.]

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.

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