Major General Nir Ben Ari, a 21-year-old commando fighter from Kerem Maharal, was killed last night in southern Lebanon by Hezbollah rocket fire and explosive drones.
In addition, it was permitted to publish that Sergeant Major Yoav Klein, 21, from Herzliya, an armor fighter in the 52nd Battalion, was killed in the battalion tank disaster on Friday night.
Maj. Gen. Nir Ben Ari, who served as a soldier in the Magellan Commando Unit as a Sergeant Major, was scheduled to go on leave at the end of the month. Nir was born and raised in Moshav Kerem, Maharal, and left behind three brothers - Guy, Shai and Shir.
In nine days he was supposed to celebrate his 22nd birthday.
His family said: "He loved life, his family, his friends. He had a special bond with his two brothers and his sister Shir. A child with a crazy presence. Always happy. He was always surrounded by friends. A very strong child, both physically and mentally. The first in everything.".
""At the beginning of the week, he was scheduled for a motorcycle test. He had a plane ticket to Thailand for mid-August.".
Family friend Nir Baruch said just yesterday that he was still at home, but chose to return to his friends and enter Lebanon.
Alfa Weinberger, principal of Kfar Galim High School, where Ben Ari studied, wrote that "Nir graduated from high school in 1972, majoring in biology and physics. His family is an inseparable part of us." Last month, the late Sergeant Noam Hamburger, who also studied at Kfar Galim, was killed in an explosive drone attack in southern Lebanon, and the principal added: "This is a second and unbearable loss for our community. Our hearts are broken in the face of the young lives that were cut short and the immense pain of the family.".
The second fallen soldier whose name was released this evening - Sergeant Major Yoav Klein - was killed on Friday in the tank accident alongside his commander, the late Lt. Col. Dor Ben Simhon - commander of the 52nd Armored Battalion - and two additional fighters whose names have not yet been released.
According to a report in 'Kan News', the IDF announced today that the operation in which the fighters of the 52nd Battalion's tank crew were killed was an operation to capture a large Hezbollah underground network in the Ali Taher Ridge.
""These are several underground complexes, one of which is more than a kilometer long and the rest are several hundred meters long," said a senior IDF officer. "This is unprecedented strategic infrastructure, Hezbollah's nerve center in southern Lebanon - the main headquarters of Hezbollah's Badr unit.".
According to the IDF, dozens of terrorists are currently surrounded and besieged in the underground compound that the IDF is working to capture - which is why the IDF arrived there. Fighting is currently underway in the underground space - and Hezbollah is showing resistance, in order to protect the besieged terrorists.
The army claims that, contrary to Hezbollah's claims, the operation on the ridge does not contradict the ceasefire because it is located south of the Yellow Line.
According to a report in Kan News, the IDF clarifies that, contrary to publications, the reason for the battalion's tank crash was not an operational malfunction in the tank.
According to the initial IDF investigation, there is a definite external damage to the tank - and it appears that it was a hit by an explosive drone with an anti-tank missile warhead.
The Ali Taher Ridge is located north of the village of Tabit, on the outskirts of the Nabatiyeh district north of the Litani, where Hezbollah has built strategic underground infrastructure over the years with Iranian funding and direction.
In recent days, fighters from the 36th Division have been working to capture the Ali Taher ridge, located north of the village of Tabit on the outskirts of the Nabatiyeh district north of the Litani, while exchanging fire with Hezbollah. The incident in which 4 fighters from the 52nd Armored Battalion, commanded by the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Dor Ben Simhon, were killed also occurred during the operation to capture the ridge. Over the years, Hezbollah has built strategic infrastructure on the ridge underground with Iranian funding and direction.
