Three Lebanese Army soldiers killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicle at the weekend were on their way to a duty station beyond the “yellow line” that marks out Israeli-occupied territory, a Lebanese military source has told The National.
The army vehicle was conducting “routine” operations in the area where the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have an outpost, said a senior source in the military.
It was the deadliest single attack on the country's armed forces since the latest war began. Two of the three victims were officers. They were identified as Brig Gen Wissam Sabra, Capt Elie Khoury and soldier Hussein Ghozal.
The killing highlights the challenges faced by the Lebanese army, which has the task of disarming Hezbollah while also facing persistent attacks by an Israeli army occupying a six-kilometre strip of Lebanese land.
Because it is not within the yellow line, it should not have been necessary to clear the troops' movements with the ceasefire mechanism, an international body that co-ordinates between Lebanese and Israeli forces, the source said. They disputed a statement by the Israeli army claiming the strike was in an “active combat zone” and that “movement in a combat zone requires co-ordination” with Israeli forces.
“We only need to co-ordinate through the mechanism when we are operating inside the yellow line, because Israeli forces are present there,” the source said.
Ceasefire ruptured
The attack came days after Israel and Lebanon announced a conditional truce following talks in Washington.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the attack on the army patrol as a “flagrant violation” of Lebanese sovereignty and international law, undermining the US-brokered peace efforts.
The killing of the soldiers came as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah intensified in southern Lebanon, despite a new ceasefire agreed by the Israeli and Lebanese governments last week that would establish “pilot zones” – where the Lebanese army would have exclusive control. These zones are yet to be implemented, the Lebanese army source said.
The Israeli army claimed, without offering evidence, that the vehicle was moving “suspiciously” towards its forces near Kfar Tibnit. But the Lebanese source said the soldiers in the vehicle were “simply carrying out their normal work as part of the brigade's routine deployment”.
“Maybe this is a message that we are no longer supposed to be there, a message to stop patrolling the area,” the Lebanese army source added. The LAF has kept its forces deployed in the area and has not stopped its patrols, he added.
Last month, the US imposed unprecedented sanctions on LAF officer Col Samir Hammoud, who heads the army’s intelligence branch in the southern suburbs of Beirut, alleging he was co-ordinating logistically with Hezbollah.
It was the first action against the LAF by the US, which has repeatedly promised to bolster the army if it follows through on efforts to disarm Hezbollah.
The army source denied Col Hammoud’s alleged links to Hezbollah, saying “his job required him to co-ordinate with people in the surrounding area and Hezbollah is present in those areas. There is nothing unusual about that.”
At least 30 people in Lebanon’s various security branches have been killed in Israeli strikes since March 2, when the war began, according to Acled, an independent non-profit organisation that tracks global conflict. Before the latest incident, the Israeli military had struck Lebanese security forces at least 21 times since the start of the war, killing 30 personnel and injuring 17 others.
The organisation added that Israeli drones have also targeted clearly identified LAF vehicles, making these attacks “inconsistent” with Israel's claims that its military operations are “solely against Hezbollah and its infrastructure”.
“By targeting security forces operating in areas historically dominated by Hezbollah, these incidents not only erode the operational capacity and morale of the institutions tasked with extending state authority, but also complicate the government's broader effort to consolidate control,” Acled’s Lebanon and Jordan researcher Bassel Doueik said.
