Maglan soldier killed in Lebanon hours after rejoining his unit, family says

Staff Sgt. Nir Ben Ari was killed overnight, between Friday and Saturday, in Lebanon while serving as a combat soldier in the Maglan special forces unit. He was expected to leave the army at the end of the month and would have turned 22 in nine days. He grew up in Moshav Kerem Maharal, studied at the Ho'emer elementary school and at Kfar Galim high school, and had spent a year at the Jerusalem pre-military academy. He had played basketball throughout childhood and had studied five-unit English, math and physics.

His family and friends described him as energetic, popular and deeply attached to them. They said he loved his family and friends, had a special bond with his siblings, and was always surrounded by people. According to them, he already had post-army plans, including an off-road motorcycle test scheduled for the beginning of the week and a flight to Thailand in mid-August for the big trip he had been looking forward to with friends.

Ben Ari was killed around 1:30 a.m. during an operation near the village of Tebnin, close to the Ali Tahar ridge. Hezbollah fired a large number of rockets and an explosive drone that hit near a force from the Commando Brigade. Ben Ari was killed, two IDF soldiers were seriously wounded, another officer was moderately wounded, and ten more soldiers were lightly injured. Family friend Meni Baruch said Ben Ari had been in the moshav just hours earlier, laughing as usual, and had told people he was going on leave and then to Thailand after a long, demanding service. He added that Ben Ari went north after his father, Yaron, drove him to the pickup point.

Baruch said the family learned of the death at about 7:00 a.m., when the police came to the house. He quoted the family as saying Ben Ari had told them to take care of his soldiers. The funeral is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. tomorrow at the cemetery in Kerem Maharal, and the family asked to wait until his unit returns from Lebanon. Hof HaCarmel Regional Council head Assif Izak called him an exemplary young man, a sportsperson, fighter and commander whose promising future was cut short. Kfar Galim principal Alfa Weinberger said Ben Ari graduated in 2022, studied biology and physics, and that his family is part of the school community. She noted that another former student, Staff Sgt. Noam Hamburger, was also killed last month by an explosive drone in southern Lebanon.