18 Israeli Soldiers Wounded in Hezbollah Attack on Army Base

Drone, missile strikes targeted base in retaliation for assassinations

At least 18 soldiers were wounded, many of them seriously, when Hezbollah targeted an Israeli military reconnaissance command center in a drone and guided missile attack.

Hezbollah took credit for the attack, which targeted a base in the northern village of Arab al-Aramshe. They said this was retaliation for yesterday’s attack which killed three of their fighters, including two commanders.

Israel’s military has so far only confirmed 14 wounded, 5 of them seriously. They reported retaliating against the sources of the missile fire, which is in keeping with the near daily tit-for-tat fire across the border.

Although the casualties were all members of the Israeli military, 13 were reported to have been reservists. Reservists have been called up due to escalating tensions in the north and the concern about escalation leading to ground invasion.

Yesterday’s attack saw two commanders, Ismail Yousef Baz and Mahmoud Ibrahim Fadlallah, killed in a strike against a vehicle. Israeli officials claimed both were responsible for rocket and missile fire in southwestern Lebanon.

Attacks and retaliation for attacks are a near daily occurrence along the border between Israel and Lebanon. In such attacks, large numbers of people, both active fighters and civilians, have been killed and tens of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee from their homes near the border.

This attack incurred the largest number of Israeli casualties in a single incident in the current flare-up of violence against Lebanon which has gone on since October. The international community has been urging restraint by Israel, but the situations in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip are worsening.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.