Lebanon's army said Tuesday a soldier was among those killed in an Israeli strike a day earlier and flatly denied the Israeli military's accusation that he was a Hezbollah operative.
Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah sites and operatives, despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities with the Iran-backed group, which it accuses of rearming.
The Lebanese army said Sergeant Major Ali Abdullah had been killed on Monday "in an Israeli air strike that targeted a car he was in" near the southern city of Sidon.
Lebanon's state-run National News Agency had said the strike killed three people.
The Israeli army said it had killed three Hezbollah operatives, adding in a statement Tuesday that "one of the terrorists eliminated during the strike simultaneously served in the Lebanese intelligence unit".
A Lebanese army official told AFP it was "not true" that the soldier was a Hezbollah member, calling Israel's claim "a pretext" to justify the attack.
The Lebanese military said in a statement that it "categorically denies" what it called "false and misleading information concerning the affiliation and loyalty of some military personnel" published by an "enemy" website.
Soldiers' loyalty to the army and to Lebanon "remains steadfast and firm", it added.
Lebanese Defense Minister Michel Menassa said reports alleging "the relationship of members of the military institution with political parties" and other bodies were "false and a malicious attack on the army".
- 'One sole loyalty' -
Lebanese army personnel "have one sole loyalty, which is to their homeland", he said in a statement.
"Calling into question the loyalty of members of the institution serves the enemies of Lebanon," he added.
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting with the south.
The army plans to complete the group's disarmament south of the Litani River -- about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border with Israel -- by year's end.
Lebanese army chief Rodolphe Haykal told a military meeting on Tuesday "the army is in the process of finishing the first phase of its plan", and is carrying out the careful evaluation, study and planning "for the subsequent phases".
The latest strike came after Lebanese and Israeli civilian representatives on Friday took part in a meeting of the ceasefire monitoring committee for a second time, after holding their first direct talks in decades earlier this month.
The committee comprises representatives from Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.
