Israeli military says 4 soldiers killed in south Lebanon

The Israeli military said Monday that four soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon, the first deaths announced in the area since the start of a ceasefire with Hezbollah nearly two weeks ago.

The four reservists, all from the same battalion, "fell in combat" on Sunday, the military said without giving further details.

Israel and Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire after nearly a year of war.


As part of the deal, Israeli troops will remain in southern Lebanon for 60 days while the Lebanese army deploys to the area.

Under the agreement, based on a UN Security Council resolution that ended the last Israel-Hezbollah war, peacekeepers and the Lebanese army should be the only armed groups in the south.

The deaths bring to 56 the number of Israeli soldiers killed in southern Lebanon since the military launched a ground offensive in late September.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that he shared his "deepest condolences" with the families of the soldiers.

The Israeli military has continued to strike Hezbollah targets since the start of the ceasefire, saying it is acting against breaches of the agreement.

On Sunday it said its ground troops had "located and dismantled ready-to-use weapons" stored in a civilian area and several tunnels.

Hezbollah began launching low-intensity strikes at Israel in October last year, in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas.

The cross-border fire escalated into all-out war when Israel shifted its focus from Gaza to Lebanon, in a bid to secure its northern border.