Terrorist organization Hezbollah killed eight Israel Defense Forces troops in southern Lebanon as Israel continues its ground operation in the country.
The soldiers died in two separate firefights, one of which was an ambush near Hezbollah’s tunnels in the region.
The casualties are some of the first of Israel’s assault, which included several airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, such as the assassination of Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah. The airstrikes have also caused some civilian casualties, at least 1,000 people, according to the Lebanon Health Ministry.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu mourned the soldiers in a video statement.
“I would like to send my heartfelt condolences to the families of our heroes who fell today in Lebanon. May God avenge them, and may their memories be a blessing,” Netanyahu said.
“We are in the middle of a tough war against Iran’s axis of evil, which seeks to destroy us. This will not happen,” he continued, “because we will stand together, and with God’s help — we will win together.”
“We will rescue our hostages in the South, we will return our residents in the North, we will guarantee Israel’s eternity,” Netanyahu concluded.
Iran fired nearly 200 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday in retaliation to the Jewish state’s bombing, which killed an Iranian commander. While videos show the Iranian missiles caused damages, there have been no reported Israeli casualties.
Iran’s second direct attack on Israel this year has aggravated fears that a greater regional conflict is set to erupt, with Israel already fighting both Hamas and Hezbollah. President Joe Biden has urged Israel to take a proportional response to Iran’s attack and to avoid striking nuclear sites.
Israel has already indicated it will respond to the attack, but they’ve yet to strike Iran directly in response. U.S. officials have said they believe there will be “consequences” to Iran’s strike.
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Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said Wednesday that “with respect to the Iranian attack on Israel, it is not just Israel that is thinking about its response options. It is also the United States.”
“The likely engagements over the next few days are to try to align, as much as we can, perspectives between Israel and the United States,” he said.