The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahuassured that the country is “in the middle of a harsh war against the axis of evil Iran”, in a statement in which he presented his condolences for the death of eight soldiers in the Lebanon in the ground offensive that began early Tuesday morning.
“God save his blood. May his memory be blessed“said the president in a video statement released by his office.
Netanyahu closed his appearance by assuring that he will return the evacuees from the south – who lived next to the border with Gaza– and those of the north – next to that of the Lebanon-, and said that they will guarantee “the eternity of Israel”.
In the almost two days that have passed since Israel announced the entry of its troops into Lebanese territory, eight soldiers – all in their twenties – lost their lives, being the first to fall in the neighboring country since the 2006 war.
The deceased so far are the captains Harel Etinger e Itai Ariel Enterprising both 23 years old; sergeants first class Noam Barzilay22 years old, and Or Mantzur y Nazar Itkin21; the sergeants Ido Broyer and Almken Terefe also 21; and the commander Eitan Itzhak Oster22.
According to The Times of Israel, Ettinger, Giat, Barzilai, Mantzur, Itkin and Oster died in close combat against the militants. Hezbollah in a town in the south of Lebanon while four other soldiers were injured.
The other confrontation, about which the armed forces did not provide further details, ended the lives of Terefe and Broyer and injured a soldier of the Golani brigade of elite infantry, of which another uniformed man was injured in a fourth incident.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that five of the wounded soldiers are receiving treatment at the hospital Beilinson from the center of the country, according to hospital sources.
Israel mobilizes more and more soldiers along the border with Lebanon, where this Tuesday it created a new “closed military zone” in three towns just one kilometer from the border, like the one it already created on Monday night, shortly before launching its ground operation.
This afternoon, the armed forces announced in this regard the entry of the 36th division, which includes armored and infantry brigades, into Lebanon to join the Hebrew offensive against Hezbollah, which has left nearly 2,000 dead in the last two weeks.