4-person IDF tank crew, including battalion chief, killed by Hezbollah in south Lebanon

Four IDF soldiers were killed overnight in a Hezbollah attack in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Tebnit, and five soldiers were wounded there hours later, the military said Friday.

Lebanon’s health ministry, meanwhile, reported at least 18 people killed by Israeli strikes. The tally does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The violence was the latest in deadly clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed terror group that have continued in Lebanon since the US and Iran this week reached a memorandum of understanding that committed them and their allies to halt hostilities in the country.

Israel, which was not party to the MOU, has rebuffed Iranian demands that it withdraw from a buffer zone in south Lebanon meant to protect border towns against Hezbollah attacks. A US official told Axios that Iranian anger over Israeli military activity there may be the reason US-Iranian talks scheduled for Friday were canceled.

In the Hezbollah attack shortly past midnight, a suspected drone or anti-tank missile struck the tank of Lt. Col. Dor Gedalia Ben Simhon, commander of the 401st Armored Brigade’s 52nd Battalion, killing all four crew members, the IDF said.

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The names of the three other soldiers killed in the incident will be published later. The exact cause of the explosion is under further investigation by the IDF.

Ben Simhon, 32, from Kibbutz Beit HaShita in northern Israel, is survived by two daughters and a wife who serves as a combat officer in the Border Defense Corps.

Ben Simhon served in several roles in the 401st Brigade throughout his military career. During the fighting with Hezbollah in 2024, he served as the chief of staff for the head of the Northern Command.

He took the helm of the 52nd Battalion on April 20 after the battalion’s commander was seriously wounded in south Lebanon.

Hours after the deadly strike on Ben Simhon’s tank, an explosive drone launched by Hezbollah struck forces of the Commando Brigade in Kfar Tebnit, wounding five soldiers, one of them seriously, according to the IDF.

The seriously wounded soldier was identified as a reservist officer. The four other wounded soldiers included three reservists and an NCO.

The IDF said the troops were taken to a hospital for treatment and their families were notified.

Lebanon says 18 killed, 33 wounded in Israeli strikes since midnight

The IDF said it killed dozens of Hezbollah operatives in strikes on over 80 targets in southern and eastern Lebanon since Thursday night, after the terror group launched several attacks on troops.

Targets that were hit overnight in Nabatieh and other areas of southern Lebanon included Hezbollah command centers, rocket launchers, and other infrastructure, the IDF said.

בתגובה להפרות חוזרות מצד חיזבאללה: צה"ל תקף יותר מ-80 מטרות וחיסל עשרות מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בדרום לבנון

צה"ל תקף לפני זמן קצר שתי מפקדות של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה בבקאע

צה"ל תקף לפני זמן קצר שתי מפקדות בשעה שבתוכן פעלו מחבלים מארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחב הבקאע בלבנון.… pic.twitter.com/3s7U19O9t0

— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) June 19, 2026

Two manned Hezbollah command centers in the eastern Beqaa Valley, a stronghold of the terror group, were also struck later on Friday morning, according to the military.

“During the strikes, dozens of Hezbollah terrorists who were operating in those command centers were eliminated,” the military said, adding that the strikes came in response to Hezbollah’s “repeated violations” of the ceasefire.

Separately, overnight, Hezbollah fired several rockets at troops in southern Lebanon. No troops were injured. The IDF said it then carried out strikes to destroy the launch site and kill two Hezbollah operatives who fled the site on a motorcycle.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the IDF strikes since midnight “have prevented the evacuation of the martyrs and wounded, and have resulted in a preliminary toll of 18 martyrs and 33 wounded” in at least 10 southern Lebanese localities.

The clashes threaten to complicate US-Iran talks. Iran says the MOU will be void if Israel remains in Lebanon, while Israel has insisted it will stay put and continue to adhere to a separate US-brokered ceasefire deal with the Lebanese government, with which Israel is also negotiating directly.

The US has avoided calling publicly for a withdrawal but US President Donald Trump has called for a “complete ceasefire” and expressed mounting anger at Israel’s actions in Lebanon.

Israeli officials have railed against the MOU for restricting Israel in Lebanon and for providing Iran with economic relief without any concrete concessions from Tehran on its nuclear program. US Vice President JD Vance, in turn, lashed out at Israeli critics of the deal, and of Trump, in comments on Thursday.

One of those critics, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, said Friday that “all of Lebanon must burn” following the deadly Hezbollah attack.

“For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must cry,” he said. “With all due respect to the Americans, Israel must make clear to the whole world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not expendable.”

Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Israel must “respect” the US-Iran agreement.

“This agreement provides for a cessation of hostilities, the Israeli government must respect it, and the United States in particular must exert all the necessary pressure on the Israeli government to ensure that this is the case,” Barrot said on FranceInfo radio.

He also said Paris was working to hold an international conference to mobilize support for the Lebanese army.

Under a November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal, the Lebanese army was supposed to disarm the terror group, but has so far failed to do so, which Israel has cited, along with persistent Hezbollah attacks on northern border towns, as the reason for the continued IDF operations in the country since that agreement.

In the US-brokered Israeli-Lebanese talks that began in April, the sides affirmed their support for the 2024 agreement, which ended over a year of hostilities initiated by Hezbollah until the terror group resumed its fire at the beginning of the Iran war. The terror group has refused to give up its arms and slammed the Lebanese government for negotiating directly with Israel.

Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Lebanon after Hezbollah in early March began firing rockets at Israel again.

Hezbollah’s rocket fire came in retaliation for the killing of its sponsor Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran on February 28.

The fighting in Iran entered a truce on April 8 even as Israel and Hezbollah continued exchanging fire.

Thirty-five IDF soldiers and one Defense Ministry civilian contractor have been killed in southern Lebanon amid fighting against Hezbollah since hostilities escalated amid the Iran war.

Two civilians were also killed by Hezbollah rockets, and an Israeli civilian was mistakenly killed in the north by Israeli artillery shelling.

Hundreds of thousands have been displaced and over 3,800 people killed in Lebanon, according to the United Nations and local authorities.

Israel says it has killed over 2,500 Hezbollah operatives, including hundreds of members of the terror group’s elite Radwan Force, since early March.

Agencies contributed to this report.