Staff Sgt. (res.) Alexander Filin, 29, from Haifa, was killed and seven others wounded — including the deputy commander of the 36th Division (rank of colonel) — by a Hezbollah-planted explosive device in the Litani area of southern Lebanon on Wednesday afternoon, the IDF announced Thursday. The battalion-level force of the 36th Division's forward command was on a foot patrol near the village of Tayba when the bomb detonated. Wounded: a colonel (deputy division commander) and a reserve lieutenant colonel (556th Transport Regiment) in moderate condition; four reservists and a female soldier lightly injured. A preliminary IDF investigation attributes the blast to an enemy explosive device; artillery struck terror targets in the area afterward.
The IDF cleared for publication on Thursday morning that Staff Sgt. (res.) Alexander Filin, 29, from Haifa, a combat soldier in the 36th Division headquarters, was killed in action in southern Lebanon. The release followed a fatal engagement on Wednesday at approximately 17:00, when the deputy commander of the 36th Division (rank of colonel) — the Senior Deputy Commander of the division — his forward command team (Hafak Samag 36), and additional troops from the 556th Transport Regiment were walking along a route near the village of Tayba, within the Litani sector. A Hezbollah-planted improvised explosive device triggered during their movement.
Filin was killed instantly. The deputy division commander and the reserve lieutenant colonel commanding the 556th Transport Regiment were moderately wounded; four other reservist fighters and a female reservist sustained light injuries. All casualties were evacuated to hospital, and their families notified. The IDF's initial probe indicates the device was placed by enemy forces; artillery was subsequently employed against terrorist infrastructure in the area, according to a military statement cited by Israel Hayom and Noam Amir (Channel 14).
The incident came within hours of a separate explosive-device and drone attack that wounded five IDF soldiers earlier in the week — underscoring the persistent threat of planted ordnance and drone strikes as Israeli ground operations continue in the Litani corridor. As The Zioneer reported at 06:05 and 06:13 Thursday, Filin is the first fatal casualty in the division in this cycle of operations. The IDF continues to investigate the circumstances.
8 developments
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- DevelopingFive IDF soldiers wounded by explosive drone in southern Lebanon, IDF confirms
- DevelopingFour Reserve Soldiers Moderately Wounded by Drone in Southern Lebanon
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