IDF reserve soldier killed, 7 wounded by Hezbollah explosive in southern Lebanon

An IDF reservist soldier was killed, and seven were wounded, including senior officers, by a Hezbollah explosive device in southern Lebanon the day before, the military announced Thursday.

The slain soldier was named as Master Sgt. (res.) Alexander Filin, 29, a combat soldier with the 36th Division’s headquarters, from Haifa.

At around 5 p.m., the deputy commander of the 36th Division, his forward command team and other soldiers were walking along the Litani River when they were hit by a blast.

The military said the deputy division commander, with the rank of colonel; a battalion commander in the 556th Transport Regiment, a reservist officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel; and another reservist were moderately injured.

In addition, a combat soldier, two combat reservists and a servicewoman were lightly injured in the explosion.

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The IDF said the soldiers were all taken to hospitals and their families were notified.

An initial IDF probe suggested the blast was a Hezbollah explosive device, with further details under investigation.

Following the incident, the IDF said it carried out artillery shelling on Hezbollah infrastructure in the area.

Lebanese media later reported one dead and another critically wounded in an Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon.

Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that the strike hit a car near Kfar Tebnit, a village near Nabatieh where the Israeli army has been operating in recent days.

There was no immediate comment from the IDF on the strike.

Filin immigrated alone from Ukraine when he was 12, and in 2016, shortly after he had completed basic training, foiled a Palestinian attack, according to Hebrew media reports. He was manning a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus when an assailant attacked him and another soldier. Filin managed to kick the attacker away and then shoot him to end the assault.

In 2018, he was presented with the President’s Award for Excellence.

The United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday meant to end the Middle East war, with fighting halted on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

Lebanon was drawn into the conflict when Tehran-backed Hezbollah began firing rockets and drones at Israel on March 2 in support of Iran. The attacks disrupted the lives of tens of thousands of people in northern Israel who were repeatedly driven to seek safety in bomb shelters at all hours of the day and night, playing havoc with their daily lives. Many of those residents had evacuated their towns during a previous round of Hezbollah attacks, which began in October 2023 and came to a halt in November 2024.

Alongside an air campaign against Hezbollah, Israel invaded southern Lebanon, which it says it will hold as a security zone to keep Hezbollah from its northern border. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese residents have been evacuated from the area.

On Wednesday, five IDF soldiers were injured — one of them seriously — by explosive drones launched by Hezbollah at troops in southern Lebanon while the army continued airstrikes in the same region, causing several Lebanese casualties.

The IDF also said it struck and destroyed the launcher used by Hezbollah to fire a barrage of rockets at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon earlier.

The military says the launcher was armed for an additional attack, and, as a result of the strike, rockets flew out and struck open areas.

No injuries were caused to Israeli troops in the incident.

תוך דקות בודדות: חיל-האוויר השמיד את המשגר ממנו חיזבאללה שיגר רקטות לעבר כוחות צה"ל

דקות בודדות לאחר שארגון הטרור חיזבאללה שיגר רקטות לעבר כוחות צה"ל, חיל-האוויר תקף את המשגר שהיה טעון ומוכן לשגר רקטות נוספות. בעקבות התקיפה, רקטות נוספות נפלטו מהמשגר ונפלו בשטח פתוח בדרום לבנון. pic.twitter.com/8EMY2Ssuke

— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) June 17, 2026

The IDF also launched an interceptor missile toward a suspected Hezbollah drone identified over an area of southern Lebanon where Israeli troops are operating. There were no injuries to Israeli forces in the incident.

Iran says the ceasefire with the US must also end hostilities in Lebanon, and that a permanent deal must lead to an Israeli withdrawal. Israeli officials have said they will not be bound in Lebanon by the terms of the Iran-US agreement, which calls for 60 days of negotiations to reach a more permanent ceasefire.

Israeli and Lebanese officials have been holding face-to-face talks in Washington to reach their own lasting ceasefire agreement, separate from the US-Iran negotiations.

The talks — which Israel has said are ultimately aimed at securing a full peace deal while Lebanon has said they are only focused on de-escalation — have faced an uphill battle since Hezbollah has vowed not to recognize or abide by any deal they yield, raising the prospect of a renewed civil war in Lebanon.

Agencies and Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.