Israel at war: What happened on day 430?

Four soldiers were killed in combat in southern Lebanon, the IDF announced on Monday, as Israel kept lines tight on the Syrian border to be prepared for anything that might affect the stability there.

The military named the fallen as Maj. (res.) Evgeny Zinershain, 43, from Zichron Ya’acov; Capt. (res.) Sagi Ya’akov Rubinshtein, 31, from Lavi; St.-Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Binyamin Destaw Negose, 28, from Bet Shemesh; and Sgt.-Maj. (res.) Erez Ben Efraim, 25, from Ramat Gan.

Initial investigations indicate that the four went into an underground spot in the area where they were operating, to clear it out of any weapons. They were struck by an IDF trap that had been placed there. According to N12, the army has opened an investigation into the incident, and will inquire as to why they entered in the first place, and whether they knew about the trap.

The four served in the 9263rd Battalion of the 226th Brigade, which is positioned in southern Lebanon as part of the 60-day period included in the ceasefire. According to Israeli media reports, while conducting searches in the area, the troops entered an underground space in which weaponry was hidden, as a result of which an explosion occurred, killing the four soldiers. 

Evgeny’s wife, Alexandra, told Ynet, “It is impossible to grasp. We had an incredible friendship, he took such care of me and the children, they were his whole world… We built a beautiful home.”

She said that her husband’s duties to Israel’s security were crystal clear to him.

“I loved his smile; that is how I fell in love with him. He was so proud of our family, he was involved, a really brilliant man. He said we have to give everything to the state, to lead the fight; that it is our duty to do so, so that the children have meaningful service experiences later on.”

Negose is the 17th casualty from the city of Beit Shemesh since the war began. Mayor Shmuel Greenberg said that his tears hadn’t dried since the last casualty, and already there is another one.

BenEfraim was from Ramat Gan, whose mayor, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, quoted the family who spoke of a unique, exceptional, beautiful child. A friend who worked with him told Ynet that Erez was like everyone’s little brother in the office.

Rubinshtein, a father of three, spent most of the last year in reserve duty. A friend of his from Kibbutz Lavi told Ynet that he was “so happy, Zionist, value-driven,; a patriot who loved this state and the people in it. He always took the call.”

Additionally, three soldiers in the Shaked Battalion of the Givati Brigade were killed in northern Gaza: St.-Sgt. Ido Zano, 20, from Yehud-Monosson; St.-Sgt. Barak Daniel Halpern, 19, from Kiryat Ono; and Sgt. Omri Cohen, 19, was from Ashdod.

An additional 12 soldiers were injured by the anti-tank fire that killed the three.

Airstrikes on Syria 

Israel will step up airstrikes on Syrian stores of advanced weaponry, officials said on Monday, and keep a “limited” troop presence on the ground, hoping to head off any threat that could emerge in the fallout of former president Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow.

Jerusalem has watched the upheaval in Syria with a mixture of hope and concern as it weighs the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in the Middle East in years.

While Assad’s fall wiped out a bastion from which Israel’s arch-foe Iran had exercised influence in the region, the lightning advance of a disparate group of rebel forces with roots in the Islamist ideology of Al Qaeda poses risks.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said the military would “destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defense systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles.”

A senior Israeli official said airstrikes would persist in the coming days, while Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel had no interest in interfering in internal Syrian affairs and was concerned only with defending its citizens.

Cleared land mines

Troops had already cleared land mines and established new barriers on the frontier between the Golan Heights and a demilitarized strip bordering Syria in October.

Early on Sunday, the military said it had sent ground forces into the demilitarized zone, a 400 sq. km. buffer created by a 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement and overseen by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).

The military on Monday published photos of Israeli commandos in the Syrian Mount Hermon area.

Sa’ar said the troop presence was strictly limited. “It’s basically near our borders, sometimes a few hundred meters, sometimes one mile or two miles,” he said. “It is a very limited and temporary step we took for security reasons.”

Katz instructed the IDF to complete the consolidation of control over the Syrian buffer zone and create a security zone in the area, Israeli media reported on Monday. He said the security zone within the buffer zone would be free of strategic weapons and terror infrastructure.

Katz’s directives included preventing the renewal of the smuggling routes from Iran to Lebanon via Syria. He also instructed that the destruction of weapons within Syria be continued, including demolishing missiles and air defense systems.

IDF intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Shlomi Binder met with the head of the Druze community in Israel, Shaykh Mowafaq Tarif, the military said on Monday. The two discussed the developments in the area and their impacts on the Druze, especially regarding the tight ties with Druze communities and towns on the other side of the border.

Meanwhile, a drone that likely crossed into Israeli territory from Yemen crashed in the city of Yavne in central Israel with no sirens sounding, the military confirmed on Monday.

No one was injured, but the porch which bore the brunt of the attack was wrecked, and the homeowner’s dog was inside.

Earlier, the municipality said that an explosion was heard in a residential building in the city, as the IDF said it had received reports regarding a suspicious aerial target crashing in the area.

According to a report from Army Radio, the explosion was caused by a drone that had infiltrated Israel undetected from either Iraq or Yemen and, therefore, had not been intercepted.

The military said that IAF jets struck two armed Palestinians during a raid by troops to remove terrorist infrastructure in Tubas in the northern West Bank. It added that troops overpowered the site where the armed men were, and confiscated weapons: an M16, two guns, and a grenade.

Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.