Lebanese Army Commander Rodolph Haykal offers condolences to the family of one of the Lebanese soldiers killed on Aug. 9 in the explosion that occurred during a weapons dismantling operation, Saturday, Sep. 13, 2025. Photo published on the army’s X account.
Lebanese Army Commander, General Rodolph Haykal, said Saturday that troops deployed in southern Lebanon are “carrying out extremely sensitive missions,” as the army has been tasked by the government with dismantling Hezbollah’s infrastructure following the recent war with Israel.
“The military units deployed in the South are carrying out essential, difficult and extremely sensitive missions, and alongside other units are making colossal efforts to steer the homeland to safe shores,” General Haykal stressed while offering condolences to the families of Lebanese soldiers killed in August in southern Lebanon. The army “is proud of its martyrs, grows thanks to them, and draws determination and strength from them,” he added in a message posted on the military’s X account.
The condolences were extended to the families of the two Lebanese soldiers killed on Aug. 28 while dismantling an Israeli drone that had fallen near Ras Naqoura (Sour district), identified as Lieutenant Mohammad Ismail and Chief Warrant Officer Rifaat Touaimi, both of the 5th Regiment, as well as to the family of a soldier killed in Zebqine valley near Majdal Zoun (Sour) in the Aug. 9 explosion during a weapons dismantling operation. He was identified as Yamen Hallak, according to a photo of General Haykal’s meeting with the victims’ families, where a poster of the fallen soldier was displayed on the wall, paying tribute to him as a “martyr of the homeland.”
In line with the cease-fire agreement that came into effect between Lebanon and Israel on Nov. 27, 2024, the Lebanese Army is deploying south of the Litani River, some 30 kilometers from the Israeli border, with the mission of dismantling Hezbollah’s infrastructure, in coordination with UNIFIL. The government “endorsed” on Sep. 5 the army’s disarmament plan for Hezbollah. The plan stipulates in particular that “disarmament will be completed south of the Litani” within “three months,” i.e. by the end of November 2025, according to Foreign Minister Joe Rajji.
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