World

Lebanese army says one soldier killed in Israeli strike

By AAP Newswire

Mar 18, 2026

Israeli fighter jet — Israel's military says its attacks are focused on Hezbollah and not directed against Lebanon's army. -EPA

A Lebanese soldier has been killed ‌and four are wounded in an Israeli air strike in the city of ‌Nabatieh in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army says amid escalating ‌hostilities between Israel and Iran-aligned armed group Hezbollah.

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The soldiers were struck while travelling by car and motorcycle and were taken to hospital, the army said in a post on X, adding in a subsequent statement ‌that one of ‌the ⁠wounded had died of his injuries.

The Israeli military said it was aware of reports that Lebanese soldiers were wounded in a strike in southern Lebanon and that the incident was under review.

It said that it operates against Hezbollah and not against the Lebanese Armed ⁠Forces.

The strike comes amid intensifying ‌Israeli attacks across Lebanon, which have killed more than 880 people and displaced more than a million, ‌according to Lebanese authorities.

The Lebanese army has also reported casualties in recent days, including an incident earlier this month in which three soldiers were among those killed in Israeli strikes, according to the army.

Israel's military, which has occupied five positions in southern Lebanon ‌since a November 2024 ceasefire with Hezbollah, sent additional forces into the country after the Shi'ite Muslim group fired a salvo of rockets on March 2, dragging Lebanon into the expanding US-Israeli war with Iran.

Israel's Defence Minister Israel Katz has warned Lebanon that it could face territorial losses ⁠unless Hezbollah was disarmed.