Two Israeli Soldiers Killed, Nine Wounded in Lebanon Clashes

Nine Israeli soldiers were wounded and at least two were killed in separate clashes with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon over the past several days, the Israel Defense Forces reported, as ground operations continue to expand a security buffer zone along the border.

The fatalities included Sergeant Aviaad Elchanan Volansky, 21, from Jerusalem, who was killed on Thursday when Hezbollah fired two antitank missiles at a Merkava tank operated by the 77th Battalion of the 7th Armored Brigade in the eastern sector north of the Litani River. The IDF stated that the tank's Trophy active protection system intercepted the first missile, but the second struck the vehicle, killing Volansky and lightly injuring two officers and two soldiers from the crew. Volansky, the son of reserve Brigadier General Yair Volansky, a former brigade commander and current defense comptroller, was the fourth Israeli soldier to die since the start of the renewed ground offensive against Hezbollah.

In a separate incident early Thursday, Staff Sergeant Uri Greenberg, 21, from Petah Tikva and a member of the Golani Brigade's 36th Division, was killed during a close-quarters firefight that began around 2:10...