Beirut, Lebanon. More than 400 Hezbollah fighters have been killed since the Lebanese armed group launched the opening salvoes of a new war with Israel on March 2, two sources familiar with Hezbollah’s count told Reuters. Israel’s military has reported a higher figure for Hezbollah’s losses.
Hezbollah casualty figures and reporting
The number provided by the sources was the first overall toll of Hezbollah fighters killed in Israel’s expanding air and ground campaign in Lebanon. Hezbollah has issued sporadic notices for a few individual fighters but has not provided an official overall toll.
In a 2023-2024 war with Israel, Hezbollah issued daily death notices for each fighter killed and said after the war that some 5,000 had been killed in total.
Israel’s estimates and Lebanon’s reported death toll
The Israeli military said this week it has killed at least 700 Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, including hundreds of members of the group’s elite Radwan Force.
Lebanon’s health ministry said on Friday that Israeli strikes and ground operations had killed 1,142 people in Lebanon, including 122 children, 83 women and 42 medical personnel. The health ministry does not otherwise distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israeli military casualties
On Friday, the Israeli military said that a soldier and a combat officer had been severely injured overnight during its operations in Lebanon. The military has previously said four of its soldiers have been killed in fighting in southern Lebanon.
How do the differing casualty figures reported by Hezbollah-linked sources and the Israeli military affect your understanding of the conflict’s scale?
