Eight Israeli soldiers killed as invasion of Lebanon turns war with Hezbollah into street-by-street battles

Israeli army continues air strikes as ground invasion begins

An Israeli mobile artillery unit fires from northern Israel towards Lebanon on Wednesday. AP

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At least eight Israeli soldiers were killed on Wednesday in south Lebanon when Hezbollah fighters were involved in heavy clashes with Israeli forces who crossed the border and entered two villages, the militant group reported, as conflict with Israel plays out in street battles.

The Iran-backed fighters engaged “an Israeli enemy infantry force that attempted to infiltrate the village of Odaisseh”, Hezbollah said. The group said it fired rockets and artillery at Israeli forces at three places along the border. This marked Hezbollah's first confirmation that Israeli troops were in Lebanon.

The group reported later that it was engaged in heavy clashes with Israeli forces in the border village of Maroun Al Ras, and had inflicted “several casualties”.

The Israeli army released video of its soldiers purportedly entering Lebanon. Israel's first confirmed casualty since the ground invasion began was Capt Eitan Oster, aged 22.

The Lebanese Army (LAF), which is not involved in fighting with Israel, said an Israeli unit had moved about 400 metres into Lebanon before retreating. The LAF also said a Lebanese soldier was injured on Wednesday in an Israeli drone strike.

The Israeli invasion of Lebanon expands the campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group after the killing of its leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday. His death followed a series of attacks involving walkie-talkies and pagers wired with explosives.

Israeli shelling hits an area in southern Lebanon, seen from northern Israel. AP

The group began low-intensity strikes on Israeli troops a day after its Palestinian ally Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 that claimed 1,200 lives and seized 240 Israeli hostages.

But the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel recently turned into a war, with Israel saying that ensuring the return of tens of thousands of its citizens to their homes in the north is the goal of combat operations.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Israel ordered people in more than 25 Lebanese villages to leave their homes. The Israeli army's Arabic spokesman Avichay Adraee told them to go north of the Awali river, not far from the city of Sidon. He said anyone who moved south risked putting themselves in danger.

Meanwhile, the Israeli army announced it had struck Hezbollah in Beirut overnight on Tuesday, and, in a separate statement, claimed that over the past few days its fighter jets “conducted a series of targeted strikes in the area of Beirut against a number of weapons production facilities and additional terrorist infrastructure sites in the area”.

On Tuesday, Israel said its troops had begun “targeted ground raids” in southern Lebanon. The UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon stressed that the Israeli offensive did not constitute a “ground incursion” and Hezbollah denied that any troops had crossed the border.

Israel has struck Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, repeatedly since last week, saying it is targeting sites belonging to the group, including the attack that killed Nasrallah.

Also on Tuesday, the Israeli military ordered residents in southern Beirut to leave their homes as it had plans to attack Hezbollah. “You are located near dangerous Hezbollah facilities, which the [Israeli military] will act against with force in the near future,” Lt Col Adraee said on X, mentioning the area of Haret Hreik in south Beirut.

Israeli strikes against Hezbollah in several regions of Lebanon killed 55 people and wounded 156 on Tuesday, the Lebanese Health Ministry said. Lebanon's disaster management agency had said earlier that 1,873 people had been killed and 9,134 wounded as a result of Israeli attacks in the country since October 8.

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said there could be as many as one million people displaced from their homes in the country, with authorities registering almost 240,000 crossings into Syria since September 23.