Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday issued a statement mourning the deaths of Maj. Harel Birnstock and Chief Master Sgt. Tamir Vaknin, who were killed in combat in southern Lebanon. 'Harel and Tamir were among our finest sons, brave reservists who fought courageously to defend the residents of the north and the State of Israel,' Netanyahu said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an official statement on Thursday mourning the deaths of Maj. (res.) Harel Birnstock and Chief Master Sgt. (res.) Tamir Vaknin, who fell in combat in southern Lebanon. 'Harel and Tamir were among our finest sons, brave reservists who fought courageously to defend the residents of the north and the State of Israel,' Netanyahu said. The statement is the latest in a sequence of official responses to the incident, which the IDF has characterized as a Hezbollah ceasefire violation.
On Wednesday evening at 22:54 Jerusalem, the IDF cleared for publication the names of the two fallen reservists, both serving in the 55th Paratroopers Reserve Brigade (Battalion 2855). Military reports stated that the troops were killed when a Hezbollah explosive device detonated as their unit entered a booby-trapped building in the village of Majdal Zoun in southern Lebanon. Four other reserve soldiers were seriously wounded in the same incident. Later that evening, Defense Minister Israel Katz issued a statement eulogizing the soldiers and wishing a full recovery to the wounded. The Zioneer reported earlier that Maj. Birnstock, 34, was a resident of Nokdim in Judea and Samaria, and is survived by his wife and children.
The incident occurred during ongoing operational activity in southern Lebanon, an area where the IDF has maintained a presence under a ceasefire agreement. The IDF accused Hezbollah of a 'blatant violation' of the truce and responded with strikes on terror targets. Netanyahu has previously affirmed that Israeli forces will remain in the security buffer zone in southern Lebanon as long as necessary to protect northern residents, as The Zioneer reported on June 23.
An investigation is underway to determine whether the explosives were laid before or after the ceasefire took effect. The condition of the four wounded soldiers remains under medical observation.
18 developments
Source and signal
- Open-source intake