Nearly 400 killed in Lebanon conflict as first Israeli casualties announced

Lebanon says nearly 400 people have been killed in Israeli strikes – as the IDF announced its first casualties of the military offensive.

Lebanon’s health minister said on Sunday that 83 children were among the 394 killed so far since the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militant groups began just over a week ago.

The Israeli soldiers’ deaths marks the country’s first military fatalities since it ramped up hostilities against Hezbollah in Lebanon last week.

Both men were said to have died when a rocket launched by militants hit their regiment as bulldozers were being used to try to free a stuck tank, according to Israeli media.

The Israel Defense Force did not immediately give further details about the circumstances of their deaths.

One of the soldiers has been identified as 38-year-old Maher Khatar, from a village in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights that is made up of mostly ethnic Druze.

The IDF has not released the name of the second soldier as his family is still being notified.

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‘Heaviest bombardment’ on Lebanon by Israel

Violence has intensified along the Israel-Lebanon border since the US launched military action against Iran more than a week ago.

Israel has been carrying out airstrikes and a ground offensive in southern Lebanon, with bombing raids on the town of Sir El Gharbiyeh on Sunday, according to local authorities.

Its mayor Saadallah Maatouk said: “Fourteen people were killed and six were wounded. We are used to it; this is Israel, and whatever happens, it will not impact us.”

Another resident in the town, which has been battered by the airstrikes that destroyed buildings and left piles of debris, claimed all the dead were women and children.

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Israel’s military has been carrying out a military operation in the southern Lebanon town of Nabi Chat to find the remains of Israeli navigator Ron Arad, who disappeared in the region in 1986.

Israeli forces entered the town and dug up a grave in a cemetery as part of the search, a resident told the Associated Press.

The mission left at least 41 people dead and 40 wounded, Lebanon’s health ministry said on Saturday.

Hezbollah and local fighters clashed with Israeli forces, with the country’s air force conducting 40 airstrikes in the area to allow personnel on the ground to withdraw.

The Israeli military said on Sunday it had struck more than 600 targets in Lebanon and 3,400 targets in Iran since the escalating violence in the Middle East began.