Israel reports troop deaths as Lebanon talks underway in Rome

JERUSALEM: Israel reported on Thursday (Aug 6) its first military fatalities in southern Lebanon in more than a month, after carrying out fresh strikes despite ongoing US-backed talks in Rome aimed at ending hostilities.

The military identified the two reservists, who were killed in combat on Wednesday, as Major Harel Birenstock, 34, and Sergeant Major Tamir Vaknin, 33, of the 2855th Battalion, 55th Brigade.

The deaths were the first Israeli fatalities reported in southern Lebanon since Jun 28.

The Israeli strikes, accompanied by the first evacuation warning in weeks, came as the United States led diplomacy between Israel and Lebanon in Rome aimed at putting an end to hostilities, with Beirut seeking Israel’s phased withdrawal from the south.

“In response to a blatant violation of the ceasefire by the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, the IDF has begun conducting precise strikes in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement, shortly after telling residents to evacuate the town of Mansouri in the south.

Lebanese state media said one person died and 11 were wounded in a separate strike.

In Rome, Israel requested that the day’s talks with Lebanon end three hours early, a source in the negotiations told AFP, saying the head of the Israeli delegation, US ambassador Yechiel Leiter, had blamed alleged “misleading leaks” by the Lebanese side.

But the talks were expected to resume on Thursday for a third and final day.

In previous US-sponsored talks in June, Israel and Lebanon agreed to a framework deal that involves the disarmament of Hezbollah, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon’s south and the deployment of the Lebanese army to the region, starting in test areas known as “pilot zones”.

This week’s negotiations are the seventh round since Hezbollah drew Lebanon into the Middle East war in March with rocket fire at Israel in support of its backer Iran.

Israel responded with heavy airstrikes and a ground invasion that Lebanon says have killed more than 4,300 people.

In its first such warning since June, the Israeli military on Wednesday told the residents of Mansouri: “In light of Hezbollah’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to act against it with force.”

“For your safety, you must evacuate your homes immediately and move north,” the military’s Arabic-language spokeswoman, Ella Waweya, posted on X.

The UN’s humanitarian agency had said just the night before that more than 800,000 people displaced by earlier fighting in Lebanon had begun heading back home following the recent lull in violence, though more than 360,000 remained displaced.