The IDF announced Friday that Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, 32, commander of the 52nd Battalion (401st Armored Brigade), was killed in combat in southern Lebanon, alongside three additional soldiers whose families have been notified. The military said their names will be released once cleared for publication. The announcement follows earlier clearance of Ben Simhon's name and the identification of three other fallen soldiers in the same incident.
The IDF announced Friday at 10:54 Jerusalem time that Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, 32, of Beit HaShita — commander of the 52nd Battalion in the 401st Armored Brigade — was killed in combat in southern Lebanon. Three additional soldiers died in the same incident; the military said their families were notified and their names will be published once clearance is given. The clearance came about 17 minutes after The Zioneer first reported the battalion commander's death at 09:14 Jerusalem, and roughly one hour after an initial IDF announcement at 09:57 Jerusalem attributed the deaths to an explosive drone.
The thread of this incident began at 09:57 Jerusalem, when the first version reported the death of a battalion commander and three soldiers by an upgraded Kornet anti-tank missile, citing a single military source — differing from the IDF's initial explosive-drone assessment. By 10:17 Jerusalem, a separate bulletin (same thread) confirmed the upgraded Kornet as the weapon. At 10:43 Jerusalem, The Zioneer reported the funeral at Beit HaShita underway for 14:00, and at 10:55 Jerusalem, the IDF officially named Ben Simhon. The cause-of-death discrepancy between the IDF's early explosive-drone statement and the later upgraded-Kornet assessment by a military source remains unresolved in official channels.
Ben Simhon is the fourth commander of the 52nd Battalion killed since October 7, 2023, as The Zioneer reported on Friday at 09:14 Jerusalem. He took command after his predecessor was severely wounded, a detail also noted by President Isaac Herzog earlier Friday, whose public mourning was reported at 10:42 Jerusalem. Funeral arrangements for Ben Simhon were already underway at Beit HaShita as of 14:00, as The Zioneer reported at 10:43 Jerusalem.
The IDF is still investigating the exact cause of the strike near Tebnine that killed the four soldiers. Initial assessments — first an explosive drone, then an upgraded Kornet missile — remain unconfirmed officially, with the IDF yet to reconcile the two accounts.
6 developments
- Developing4 IDF soldiers killed in Hezbollah tunnel-ambush in south Lebanon; 147 rockets fired at Israeli troops
- StrongIDF names Lt.-Col. Dor Gedalia Ben-Simhon, three other soldiers killed in southern Lebanon tank incident; fifth name confirmed
- StrongHezbollah releases detailed claim of responsibility for tank strike that killed 52nd Battalion commander
- StrongHezbollah fired anti-tank missile, mortars at IDF troops in south Lebanon; no casualties
Source and signal
- Internal intake