OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The Israeli army announced Sunday that one of its soldiers had been killed the previous day by a Hizbollah explosive drone in southern Lebanon, bringing to 25 the number of Israeli military deaths since early March.

 

Staff Sergeant Michael Tyukin, 21, "fell in combat in southern Lebanon," the army said in a brief statement. An army spokesman told AFP he was killed by a Hizbollah drone strike.

 

In total, 25 Israelis have been killed , 24 soldiers and one civilian contractor , since hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hizbollah resumed on March 2, when the Shiite militant group reopened thr front in support of Tehran, following Israeli-US strikes.