De la fumée au-dessus de Kfarchouba, au Liban-Sud, le 24 octobre 2024. Photo AFP
The Lebanese army reported on Thursday that three of its soldiers, including an officer, were killed by Israeli fire in southern Lebanon, near the Israeli border.
"The Israeli enemy targeted members of the Lebanese army in the vicinity of the village of Yater (in the Bint Jbeil region, in the south) while they were conducting an operation to evacuate the wounded, resulting in the death of three martyrs, including an officer," the Lebanese army said in a statement cited by AFP.
The victims were Commander Mohammad Farhat, and soldiers Mohammad Bzal and Moussa Mehanna.
The Lebanese agency Markaziya reported that Commander Farhat had distinguished himself before the war, at the border, when he prevented the Israeli army from installing a "pole" on the Blue Line near the village of Aita al-Shaab.
A video circulated on social media showed a Lebanese soldier, identified as Mohammad Farhat, stopping an Israeli soldier from unfolding barbed wire, while negotiating through UNIFIL soldiers. "We are ready for any scenario," the soldier is seen telling the surrounding group, threatening to use force if they did not withdraw. "We are defending our land, that's all," he added in the video.
Commander Farhat, originally from southern Lebanon, also took part in the 2007 Battle of Nahr al-Bared in northern Lebanon, where the Lebanese army fought jihadists from the Fateh al-Islam group who were entrenched in the Palestinian camp for nearly three months.
The Lebanese army is not involved in the ongoing fighting. However, it has been more frequently targeted since the start of the expanded Israeli offensive on Sept. 23.
