The IDF on Friday released the name of another soldier killed in last week’s tank disaster in Lebanon, Staff Sgt. Liav Kabbabia, 20, from Hod HaSharon. He served as an armored corps fighter in Battalion 52 of the 401st “Iron Tracks” Division. In the same incident, Staff Sgt. Yoav Klein, Lt. Col. Dor Gdalia Ben Shimchon, and another soldier whose name has not yet been cleared for publication also died.
The incident took place overnight between Thursday and Friday during operations by the 36th Division in the Alayh Tahr ridge south of Nabatieh. According to the IDF, Hezbollah carried out a combined attack, firing Kornet anti-tank missiles at the tank and launching at least one explosive drone that may have carried anti-tank ordnance.
An IDF inquiry found that an armed drone penetrated the tank through its rear hatch after the Kornet attack and exploded inside, causing the deadly disaster. Kan 11 reported that the tank has still not been extracted from southern Lebanon, which is delaying a deeper investigation into what happened. The extraction is expected in the coming days.
The army said the tank crew was operating as part of an effort to seize a large underground Hezbollah network in the Alayh Tahr ridge. A senior IDF officer said the site included several underground compounds, one more than a kilometer long and others several hundred meters each, calling it an unprecedented strategic infrastructure and the “nerve center” of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, the main headquarters of the group’s Badr Unit.
