A soldier was killed Friday by a drone near the Lebanese border, the Israel Defense Forces announced Saturday.

The slain soldier was named as Staff Sgt. Noam Hamburger, 23, a technology and maintenance soldier in the 401st Brigade, from Atlit in northern Israel.

Another soldier was reportedly seriously wounded and a non-commissioned officer was lightly hurt in the same incident. Both were evacuated to a hospital for treatment.

A second explosive drone was said to have fallen in the same area of northern Israel roughly 25 minutes later, causing no injuries.

Hamburger is the ninth IDF soldier to be killed in southern Lebanon since the start of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which has largely unraveled after being announced last month. He is the 22nd to be killed since hostilities between Israel and the terror group escalated amid the Iran war. A civilian contractor was also killed in southern Lebanon.

As the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah continued, the Lebanese terror group said Saturday that Iran assured it Tehran would not abandon Hezbollah and that the Islamic Republic’s latest proposal to end the US-Iran war included a ceasefire in Lebanon.

A Hezbollah statement said its leader, Naim Qassem, received a message from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, which indicated that Iran “will not give up its support for movements demanding justice and freedom, foremost among them Hezbollah.”

In Iran’s latest proposal through Pakistani mediators aimed at achieving “a permanent and stable end to the war, the demand to include Lebanon in the ceasefire was emphasized,” the statement added.

Also on Saturday, the IDF released footage of a combat........

© The Times of Israel