Smoke billows over southern Lebanon, amid ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, as seen from near Ein Ya’akov, northern Israel October 24, 2024. (Photo: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his “deep concern” during a call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday, after the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) reported that IDF fire killed three of its soldiers.
While the LAF is the government-backed army of the Lebanese state, it is considered to be inferior to Hezbollah’s large military apparatus, and does not control large parts of the country, including most of southern Lebanon.
The U.S. has been among the LAF’s main backers, building it up in recent years with funding, training and arms transfers. Under UN Resolution 1701 , the LAF was meant to re-establish its sovereignty over all of Lebanon and disarm Hezbollah forces, however, the powerful terror group simply ignored the resolution.
On Thursday morning, the LAF announced that three of its soldiers, including an officer, died in an alleged Israeli strike in the town of Yater, near the city of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon.
“The IDF is investigating whether, as a result of the strike, a number of soldiers of the Lebanese army were accidentally hit,” the military told Israeli media outlets.
Austin “expressed deep concern about reports of strikes against Lebanese armed forces and stressed the importance of taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the Lebanese armed forces and UNIFIL forces,” according to a statement from the Pentagon on Thursday.
The IDF affirmed that it “does not intentionally target soldiers of the Lebanese army,” and added: “The incident is under review, and any lessons will be learned.”
On Sunday, three LAF soldiers were killed in a similar incident, when, according to the IDF, an unmarked LAF truck approached areas where the IDF was conducting operations. After striking a similar truck shortly before, IDF troops on the ground mistakenly took the second truck for a Hezbollah vehicle and struck it as well.
The IDF later apologized for the “unwanted circumstances.” This marks the fourth incident of accidental fire from Israel that has harmed Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) soldiers during the war.
Israeli officials have said repeatedly that the ground offensive in Lebanon is exclusively aimed at Hezbollah, while urging the LAF to take over its task of securing the country, instead of leaving Hezbollah to roam free and attack Israel at will.
On Monday, U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein , who is leading the talks regarding a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, met with several Lebanese leaders in Beirut, including LAF Commander Joseph Aoun, with whom he discussed “ways to support the Lebanese Army.”
According to the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat, the focus of Hochstein’s visit was to identify a candidate to support as the new president.
Aoun is reportedly the candidate that the U.S. would prefer. If elected, he would be tasked with disarming Hezbollah under Resolution 1701, assuming efforts to break the current deadlock in selecting the country’s president are resumed.
Hezbollah has blocked the election since the last president’s term expired in 2022.