Jerusalem, 8 March, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Two Israeli soldiers were killed overnight during an operation in southern Lebanon after their unit came under fire from Hezbollah, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Sunday. They are the first Israeli fatalities in Lebanon since the IDF launched a ground operation on Tuesday in response to renewed Hezbollah rocket fire.
One of the soldiers was identified as Maj. Gen. (res.) Maher Khatar, 38, from the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the northern Golan Heights.
The second soldier killed in the incident has not yet been publicly identified. An additional combat officer was slightly wounded and evacuated to hospital for treatment. His family has been notified.
According to the IDF, the incident occurred late Saturday night near the Magen Tuluvi outpost, close to the Israeli border community of Margaliot in the Ramim mountain range. The position is one of several new outposts established by the army following the latest phase of ground operations in Lebanon.
Initial findings indicate that a combat engineering unit was attempting to recover an armored personnel carrier that had become stuck during operations. The engineering team deployed two D9 armored bulldozers to extract the vehicle.
During the recovery effort, the force came under attack, apparently from a Hezbollah squad operating in the area. One of the bulldozers was struck, possibly by a mortar shell or an anti-tank missile. The impact is believed to have ignited a fuel tank, causing the vehicle to catch fire.
Two members of the engineering team were killed in the strike.
Following the attack, Israeli Forces launched heavy return fire and fighter jets struck multiple targets in the area, the military said.
Sheikh Mowafaq Ṭarīf, spiritual leader of the Israeli Druze community at the at the swearing in of Supreme Court President Justice Isaac Amit in Jerusalem on Feb. 13, 2025. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL
Khatar’s death has drawn particular attention in Majdal Shams, a Druze town in the northern Golan Heights. The 38-year-old, a married father of two, is believed to be the first soldier from the community to be killed while serving in the Israeli Military.
Residents say Khatar decided to enlist after a deadly attack in July 2024 in which 12 children were killed on a soccer field in Majdal Shams. Prior to joining the military, he was a member of the town’s civilian emergency readiness squad.
Community members described him as representing a growing trend among some Druze residents of the Golan Heights toward greater integration into Israeli society.
Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of Israel’s 152,000-strong Druze community, paid tribute to Khatar and the other soldier killed in the attack.
“Another hero from the Druze community has fallen in the war that has been going on for about two and a half years,” Tarif said. “The first casualty in Operation ‘Roaring Lion,’ a title that no family wants the honor of earning, but fate willed that the Khatar family from Majdal Shams would bear it.”
He added that the Druze community continues to carry a heavy burden in Israel’s conflicts.
“The Druze community continues to bear the burden and pay a very heavy and expensive price,” Tarif said. “The best young men are being picked off.”
Following Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, Hezbollah began daily rocket fire at northern Israeli communities, prompting thousands of residents to flee. A ceasefire was reached in November 2024, but Israel has carried out numerous airstrikes against Hezbollah activities violating the truce.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for renewed rocket fire on Tuesday, calling it “revenge for the blood of the Supreme Leader of the Muslims, Ali Khamenei.”