The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Wednesday confirmed the first casualty after its ground operation against Hezbollah began in Lebanon. The late soldier was identified as 22-year-old Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster by the IDF.
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Meanwhile, the Lebanese army said one of its men was injured in an Israeli drone strike on southern Lebanon.
Captain Eitan Oster was a team commander in the Egoz Commando Unit from Modi’in. He was killed during a battle with Hezbollah operatives in a village in southern Lebanon, The Times Of Israel quoted IDF as saying. The casualty was confirmed by the Israeli military on the same day that it pushed infantry and armoured units to join the ground operations in Lebanon.
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According to IDF's official website, the Egoz unit was established to combat Hezbollah "and to this day it specializes in guerrilla warfare, mainly along the northern border of the country." The Commando Brigade formed in 1995 "has a unique weapons division – the unit's development company, which is responsible for finding creative solutions and technological innovations for problems that arise in the field, and providing protection against new enemy attacks," the site further said.
Hezbollah said it was clashing with Israeli troops in the border town of Maroun el-Ras after it had pushed back forces near another border town. The group said it had also fired rockets at military posts inside Israel. The group's media chief Mohammad Afif said those battles were only "the first round" and that the group had enough fighters, weapons and ammunition to push back Israel.
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Israel's addition of infantry and armoured troops from the 36th Division, including the Golani Brigade, the 188th Armoured Brigade and 6th Infantry Brigade, suggests that the operation may move beyond limited commando raids, reported Reuters. The military has said its incursion is largely aimed at destroying tunnels and other infrastructure on the border and there were no plans for a wider operation targeting Beirut or major cities in southern Lebanon.