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Hezbollah drone attack on military base kills four Israeli soldiers

by TRANS WORLD FEATURES | @twfindia 14 Oct 2024, 04:23 am

At least four Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers were killed and 58 others were wounded by a Hezbollah drone strike on a military base near Binyamina in north-central Israel on Sunday night, according to Times of Israel and IDF.

The Iran-backed Lebanon based Shiite militia Hezbollah said that it had targeted a training base belonging to the IDF’s Golani Brigade with a “swarm of drones.”

"Yesterday, a UAV launched by the Hezbollah terrorist organization hit an army base. 4 IDF soldiers were killed in the incident. The IDF shares in the grief of the bereaved families and will continue to accompany them. We ask to refrain from spreading rumours and the names of injured individuals, and to respect the families," the IDF said in an X post.

The drone impacted shortly before 7 p.m., the IDF said. Hebrew media reports indicated that it struck a dining hall inside the base, according to Times of Israel.

Seven more soldiers were seriously wounded, the IDF said, and another 14 were suffering from moderate injuries, according to the report.

“We are at war, and an attack on a training base on the home front is difficult and the results are painful. You operated well to treat and evacuate the wounded and injured. Embrace the bereaved families, accompany the wounded, and strengthen the commanders and soldiers,” Chief of the General Staff LTG Herzi Halevi said following the attack.

In a statement  IDF spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said that the circumstances surrounding the attack were being examined, as the drone had failed to set off any warning sirens in Israel.

“The IDF has full operational control over the incident,” Hagari said, urging the public to refrain from spreading rumors about the attack while the facts were still being established.

“We will investigate how a UAV can breach without warning and hit a base,” he said. He added that Israel has faced the threat posed by UAVs “since the beginning of the war,” he said.

“We are required to provide better protection,” he said. “We will investigate this incident, learn from it and improve.”

Meanwhile, the Lebanese health ministry says 51 people were killed across the country on Sunday by Israeli air strikes, according to BBC.

Another 174 were injured, the ministry adds.

Twenty-two of those killed were in the Mount Lebanon region, in the north of the country, while 10 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the southern Nabatieh region, the BBC report said.

Five others were killed and one wounded in a raid on the village of Maifadoun in west of Beaufort Castle, the report added.