Over 40 Lebanese soldiers have been killed by Israeli forces during its aggression on the country [Getty/file photo]
An Israeli strike on a Lebanese army center on Sunday killed one soldier and wounded 18 others, the Lebanese military said.
It was the latest in a series of Israeli strikes that have killed over 40 Lebanese troops, even as the military has largely kept to the sidelines in Israel’s aggression in the country.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, condemned it as an assault on US-led ceasefire efforts, calling it a “direct, bloody message rejecting all efforts and ongoing contacts” to end the war.
“(Israel is) again writing in Lebanese blood a brazen rejection of the solution that is being discussed,” a statement from his office read.
The strike occurred in southwestern Lebanon on the coastal road between Tyre and Naqoura, where Israel has been launching heavy strikes over the days.
Israel began exchanging cross-border with Hezbollah one day after its war on the Gaza Strip began on October 7 last year.
In September this year, Israel began intensifying its attacks on Lebanon, resulting in an all-out war. Israel went on to assassinate a number of Hezbollah senior figures, including its Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah.
Israeli airstrikes early Saturday pounded central Beirut, killing at least 29 people and wounding dozens more, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 3,500 people in Lebanon, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. The fighting has displaced about 1.2 million people, or a quarter of Lebanon’s population.
The Biden administration has spent months trying to broker a ceasefire, and US envoy Amos Hochstein was back in the region last week.
The emerging agreement would pave the way for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon below the Litani River in accordance with the UN Security Council resolution that ended the 2006 war. Lebanese troops would patrol the area, with the presence of UN peacekeepers.
