Israeli army says soldier killed in southern Lebanon

Israel’s military said on Sunday that a soldier died during combat in southern Lebanon, where a temporary ceasefire had come into effect this week.

“Lidor Porat, aged 31, from Ashdod, a soldier in the 7106th Battalion, 769th Regional Brigade, fell during combat in southern Lebanon,” the Israeli military said in a statement, without providing further details.

The total Israeli army death toll in the six-week war between Israel and Hezbollah was now 15, according to an AFP tally based on military figures.

It was the second death announced by Israel of a soldier in southern Lebanon since the start of a ten-day truce announced by the United States began on Friday — part of wider efforts to bring a permanent end to the Middle East war.

The latest round of fighting in Lebanon — one of the fronts in the regional war — had begun on March 2 when Tehran-backed Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel to avenge the death of its supreme leader in the opening wave of Israeli-US strikes on Iran.

Israel then responded with a strike it said targeted Hezbollah in Beirut and the southern parts of the country where it had also launched a ground operation.