Israeli officer succumbs to wounds from Golan attack as Hezbollah strikes new settlement

An Israeli reserve officer died from wounds sustained from a Hezbollah attack on the occupied Golan Heights two weeks ago, as Hezbollah said it attacked a new Israeli settlement on Friday for the first time.

"Retired officer Efraim Ben Amram, 25, a soldier of the 53rd Battalion, died of his wounds about two weeks after he was seriously injured in a drone attack launched from southern Lebanon on a military base in the Golan Heights," an army statement said.

At least 19 Israeli troops were injured at the end of June when Hezbollah launched a suicide drone attack on the territory, a Syrian plateau occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.

As of Wednesday, Israel said 682 of its soldiers have died and more than 4,100 have been injured since the start of the Gaza war and outbreak of hostilities along the Lebanon frontier in October.

Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire since Israel launched its latest war on Gaza.

On Thursday evening, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a three-storey building in southern Lebanon killing five people, including a commander of Hezbollah’s elite Radwan operational unit.

The commander was identified as Ali Jaafar Maatouq. A second Hezbollah member was killed, identified as Hassan Ali Mhanna.

Earlier on Thursday, another Israeli drone strike in Lebanon’s Bekaa region killed a senior commander in the Sunni Islamic Group, who has lost several members in the cross-border fighting with Israel since October.

More than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon since then, mostly fighters from Hezbollah and other Lebanese and Palestinian factions.

Hezbollah and Israel’s cross-border clashes have intensified in recent weeks as international observers warn against a fully-fledged war which they say could grow into a regional conflict.

Hezbollah and Israel warn each other of devastating consequences in the event of a war.

Western diplomatic efforts are trying to reach a settlement between Beirut and Tel Aviv, but Hezbollah has tied an end to hostilities with Israel to a Gaza ceasefire.

Earlier this week, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah warned his group will hit new targets in Israel if Israel continues to target civilians in Lebanon.

On Friday morning, the Iran-backed Shia group said it struck the Israeli settlement of Abirim for the first time.