![A battle tank belonging to the Israeli army is seen the Lebanon border on 2 June 2020 [JALAA MAREY/AFP/Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Israel-soldiers-lebaon-border.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
One Israeli soldier has been killed and an officer injured in a car accident along the border with Lebanon, the Times of Israel reported.
Sahar Elgazar, 20, was killed in a car crash in the Shebaa Farms – an area of land disputed by Lebanon, Syria and Israel, but occupied by the so-called Jewish state.
A lieutenant was injured and taken to hospital for treatment, Israeli forces said. Adding, personnel on the ground fired a series of smoke shells into the air immediately after the crash to block the view of Lebanese forces stationed on the border.
According to the Times of Israel, the shells sparked a fire which was later extinguished by Israeli firefighters. A military investigation into the crash has been launched.
The crash comes only days after Hezbollah blamed Israel for the death of one of its fighters in Syria, during airstrikes on Monday night, and threatened to retaliate.
Monday’s air strikes, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, killed five people, injuring a further 11, among them four foreign fighters and seven Syrian members of an air-defence unit.
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The strikes reportedly targeted an Iranian-backed ammunition depot based in the southern outskirts of Damascus, near the capital’s airport.
Among the dead was Ali Kamel Mohsen, a Lebanese Hezbollah fighter from southern Lebanon.
Mohsen was declared a martyr in a death notice released by the Iranian-backed militia.
In the wake of retaliation threats, several pro-Hezbollah media outlets, including Lebanon’s Al-Manar and Al-Mayadeen reported Israeli forces were fearful of a revenge attack.
An Al-Manar report claimed, “Israeli military units deployed on Lebanon’s border have been hiding away since Hezbollah announced one of its fighters was claimed by the Zionist aerial attack on Damascus Monday night.”
Yesterday, the Israeli Army reportedly launched a two-military exercise in the Upper Galilee region, close to the Lebanese border.
According to a Jerusalem Post report, “considerable troop activity will take place as part of the exercise, as well as explosions and flare launches”. The exercise is reportedly part of the Israel’s military training plan for 2020, intended to help troops maintain readiness.
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