Two reserve soldiers were killed on Monday in a Hezbollah drone attack against a military post close to the northern city of Metula, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Tuesday morning.
The IDF said it had failed to intercept the explosive-laden UAV.
The casualties were identified as Master Sgt. (res.) Dan Kamkagi, 31, from Kfar Oranim, and Master Sgt. (res.) Nahman Natan Hertz, 31, from Elazar.
A third soldier was lightly wounded in the attack.
In response, Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck a Hezbollah target in Srebbine in Southern Lebanon and a rocket launch site in Ayta ash-Shab.
The military also fired artillery to “remove a threat” from the nearby area of Souaneh.
מטוסי קרב תקפו בשעות האחרונות מבנה צבאי של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב סרבין ועמדת שיגור של הארגון בעייתא א-שעב שבדרום לבנון.
מוקדם יותר היום כוחות צה”ל ביצעו ירי ארטילרי להסרת איום במרחב א-צוונה שבדרום לבנון. pic.twitter.com/770jdOrGfO
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) May 6, 2024
Earlier on Monday, Hezbollah fired a barrage of some 30 rockets at the Golan Heights. There were no reports of injuries.
In response, the IDF shelled the launch sites, and also struck more than a dozen targets belonging to Hezbollah’s Radwan Force in al-Lwaiza in Southern Lebanon.
On Sunday, an Israeli man was lightly wounded in a Hezbollah rocket barrage on the Upper Galilee city of Kiryat Shmona.
Shortly after that attack, another 40 rockets were fired at Israel’s northern communities in one of the largest Hezbollah barrages in recent months. Some of the rockets were intercepted, and no injuries were reported.
Hezbollah has carried out near-daily attacks on northern Israel since joining the war against the Jewish state in support of Hamas a day after the Gaza-based terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre.
Tehran’s terrorist proxy has killed eight Israeli civilians, one foreign worker and 13 IDF soldiers since it began its current round of attacks.
Israel has threatened a major military offensive in Southern Lebanon to push Hezbollah north of the Litani River—some 18 miles from the border—if a diplomatic solution is not found. Efforts to calm tensions, including those of the United States and France, have thus far been unsuccessful.
With reporting by JNS.