IDF said to be probing suspected looting by commander

10 soldiers, including brigade commander, hurt in separate Hezbollah drone attacks

Two attacks on troops in south Lebanon cause range of injuries, commander of 401st Armored Brigade seriously hurt; IDF strikes Hezbollah weapons site in clinic

Ten IDF soldiers were wounded, including two seriously, in two separate explosive drone attacks launched by Hezbollah on troops operating in southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as limited fighting with the Iran-backed terror group persisted despite a ceasefire.

In one of the incidents, the commander of the 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Meir Biderman, 41, was seriously wounded by an explosive drone, the IDF said.

The military said that Col. (res.) H., who currently serves as the brigade’s chief of staff, will temporarily fill his position.

A reserve lieutenant colonel serving in the 162nd Division was moderately wounded in the same incident, while an additional reservist sustained light injuries, according to the IDF.

In another Hezbollah drone blast, a female soldier was seriously wounded, a combat officer and two additional soldiers sustained moderate injuries, and two more were lightly wounded, the army said.

All of the wounded were evacuated to a hospital for treatment, and their families were notified.

Also on Wednesday, the IDF published footage of a strike it carried out earlier in the week on a Hezbollah weapons production site in the Tyre area of southern Lebanon that had been established inside a building previously used as a civilian clinic and located meters away from a mosque.

The IDF said secondary explosions were identified following the strike, indicating the presence of weapons inside the building.

The military echoed accusations it made earlier on Wednesday, when the IDF announced a separate strike on a civilian building allegedly housing Hezbollah surveillance equipment in southern Lebanon, with the military again accusing the terror group of using civilian infrastructure in operations against Israel.

According to the military, the surveillance system, which it struck on Tuesday, was used by Hezbollah operatives to monitor and direct activity against troops in the area.

In a separate incident, the unit also killed a Hezbollah operative who the IDF said was operating from a warehouse used to store weapons. The military said secondary explosions were also identified following that strike.

Later Wednesday, the Kan public broadcaster reported that the IDF is investigating a suspected looting incident involving a reserve battalion commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel, after troops allegedly took a generator from southern Lebanon and brought it back to Israel.

Kan reported that information recently reached the officer’s commanders alleging that the battalion commander, another officer and several soldiers loaded the generator onto their jeep while operating in Lebanon and drove it back into Israeli territory.

According to the report, the incident came to light after soldiers informed their commanders, who then instructed the battalion commander to return the generator to the location from which it had been taken.

Responding to the report, the IDF said the incident was carried out “without authorization and in violation of mandatory procedures,” adding that the military “views any deviation from the orders and norms expected of its soldiers with great severity and acts accordingly.”

The incident comes less than a month after IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned senior commanders that incidents of looting by troops “stain the entire IDF.”

Lebanon’s health ministry said Monday the toll in the latest round of fighting had topped 3,000.

Many Hezbollah fighters who have been killed in the war are not included in the health ministry death toll, sources familiar with Hezbollah’s casualty numbers have said.

Twenty IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against Hezbollah. Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

In Lebanon, the Israeli military has said that it has killed over 2,000 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since hostilities escalated amid the war with Iran.

Last week, the US and Lebanese ambassadors to Washington wrapped up the third round of direct talks, after which the nominal ceasefire in Lebanon was extended for another 45 days.

US President Donald Trump has publicly called for a meeting between Aoun and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Aoun has declined to meet or speak directly with Netanyahu at this stage — a move that would likely generate blowback in Lebanon, where talks with Israel were met with protests among the third of the population that is Shiite.

In support of its patron, Iran, Hezbollah dragged Lebanon into war in early March by launching drone and rocket attacks on northern Israel. Israel has since invaded southern Lebanon and bombed thousands of sites around the country, saying it is targeting the terror group’s efforts to rearm.

More than a million people have been displaced in Lebanon by the fighting, with some sheltering in tents along roads and the sea in Beirut. Israel, meanwhile, has struggled to halt frequent Hezbollah drone attacks.

The US-led mediation has emerged in parallel to diplomacy ​aimed at ending the US-Iran conflict. Iran has ⁠said ending Israel’s war in Lebanon is one of its demands for a deal over the wider conflict.

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.