Israel says 8 troops killed amid ground incursion into Lebanon

Israel’s ground incursion into Lebanon to battle Hezbollah militants left eight Israeli soldiers dead Wednesday, while the region braced for further escalation as Israel vowed to retaliate for Iran’s ballistic missile attack a day earlier.

The Israeli military said seven soldiers were killed in two separate attacks, without elaborating. Those deaths followed an earlier announcement of the first Israeli combat death in Lebanon since the start of the incursion — a 22-year-old captain in a commando brigade. Another seven troops, including a combat medic, were wounded.

Together, the assaults were some of the deadliest against Israeli forces in months. The announcements came on the eve of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.

In Gaza, where the nearly yearlong conflict that triggered the widening conflict rages on with no end in sight, Israeli ground and air operations in a hard-hit city killed at least 51 people, including women and children, Palestinian medical officials said.

Israel has continued to strike what it says are militant targets across Gaza nearly a year after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the conflict.

The escalation on multiple fronts has raised fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East that could further draw in Iran — which backs Hezbollah and Hamas — as well as the United States, which has rushed military assets to the region in support of Israel.

Syria’s state-run SANA news agency said an Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Damascus Wednesday evening, killing three people and wounding at least three others. An Associated Press journalist at the scene said the missile appeared to have targeted the bottom floor of a four-story apartment building.

There was no immediate comment from Israel, which