The IDF said Saturday evening that Sgt. Yoav Klein and Sgt. Maj. Nir Ben Ari were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon. The announcement came after a day of heavy fighting and more revelations about earlier deadly attacks in the area.
One of the fallen was Lt. Col. Dor Gdalya Ben Shimhon, 32, from Kibbutz Beit Hashita, the commander of Battalion 52 in the Armored Corps' 401st Brigade. He had taken command about two months ago, after the previous battalion commander, Lt. Col. Or Yul, was seriously wounded in combat. Ben Shimhon grew up in the 401st Brigade and served in many of its key command roles. He leaves behind a wife, who also serves as a combat officer in the Intelligence Corps, and two daughters. The IDF said he was killed shortly after midnight when a suspected aerial target struck a tank belonging to Battalion 52 operating under the Givati Brigade combat team near the village of Taybe, and it was still unclear whether the object was an explosive drone.
A few hours later, before dawn, a reserve officer was seriously wounded by an explosive drone strike in southern Lebanon, and three reserve NCOs and one regular-duty NCO were lightly wounded. In response, the IDF struck many Hezbollah infrastructure sites in the Bekaa Valley, in Nabatieh and in other parts of southern Lebanon, where dozens of casualties were reported.
The military said 35 soldiers have been killed since fighting in the north resumed about three months ago with Operation Northern Arrows, including 22 after the ceasefire was declared. Since the war began, the names of 961 IDF dead have been released, including 473 fighters killed in Gaza and 82 in southern Lebanon. Separately, the name of another fallen soldier, Sgt. Maj. (res.) Alexander Filin, 29, of Haifa, was released on Thursday. Filin, a soldier in Division 36 headquarters, was killed by an explosive charge near the Litani River. Seven other troops were wounded in that incident, and Filin was later described as an immigrant from Ukraine who had received the President's Medal in 2018 after stopping a stabbing attack in Shchem.
Ben Shimhon's widow, Ariel, posted a long farewell on Facebook, writing that he gave her seven years of love, they built a family together, and their two daughters would know him. Former defense minister Yoav Gallant and President Isaac Herzog also paid tribute, praising his leadership, devotion and courage, while Herzog said four Israeli sons had fallen in Lebanon and called on the public to pray for the wounded.
