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The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) acknowledged on June 28 that an officer was killed in a clash with Hezbollah in southern Lebanon overnight.
The slain soldier was identified by the military as Cpt. David Hazutt, a platoon commander in the Golani Brigade’s 12th Battalion.
According to an IDF probe of the incident, shortly after midnight, Golani soldiers encountered a Hezbollah fighter as they entered a structure in the town of Deir Siryan. During the clash with the fighter, Hazutt was killed and another soldier was lightly hurt.
Israeli troops have launched a search operation for the fighter, and struck several sites of Hezbollah in the area, the military added.
Hazutt is the first Israeli service member to be killed in southern Lebanon since a ceasefire brokered by the United States entered into effect there on April 16. There have been, however, several reports of clashes there with Israeli troops wounded, and the IDF has not ceased its strikes on the region despite warnings from Hezbollah.
The deadly clash came just two days after the U.S., Israel and Lebanon signed a trilateral framework agreement meant to address Israeli security concerns in southern Lebanon.
The agreement conditions an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon on the full disarmament of Hezbollah, effectively legitimizing the IDF occupation. It also bars Lebanon from legally pursuing Israel for war crimes, and while it promises economic benefits in return of all of this, the details of the aid are vague to say the least.
In Israel, the agreement was widely celebrated, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu describing it as “a historic achievement.”
Speaking at a press conference on June 27, Netanyahu said that the agreement is “a major blow” to Iran and to Hezbollah, and claimed it marks U.S. and Lebanese agreement to Israel holding a security zone in Lebanon for as long as is needed for Israeli security.
“We’ll continue to hold it until Hezbollah and other terror groups are disarmed,” he said of the current security zone, “until there is no longer a threat to Israel from Lebanon.”
Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem on the same day said that the agreement is “null,” a “humiliation” and a surrender of sovereignty, and should be replaced by the Iran-U.S. memorandum.
In a statement, Qassem warned that any attempt to link Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon to the group’s disarmament crossed “red lines.”
He also went on to accuse the Lebanese government of “legitimizing” Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon through this “grave blunder.”
The latest deadly clash affirms that Hezbollah has made the decision to challenge the agreement. Thus, more escalation is to be expected in southern Lebanon in coming days. The IDF will likely end up resuming ground operations, especially that the Lebanese government no longer could object.
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