Eight Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon

Israeli said on Wednesday eight of its soldiers were killed in combat in south Lebanon as its forces pushed into its northern neighbour in a campaign against the Hezbollah armed group.

The losses were the deadliest suffered by the Israeli military on the Lebanon front in the past year of clashes betweenIsrael and its Iran-backed Lebanese adversary.

Hezbollah said its fighters were engaging Israeli forces inside Lebanon on Wednesday, reporting ground clashes for the first time since Israel began its ground advance.

Earlier in the day, the military had stated that one of its soldiers had been killed in Lebanon.

“Captain Eitan Itzhak Oster, aged 22, fell during combat in Lebanon." Oster was killed during a battle with Hezbollah operatives in a village in southern Lebanon.

The military also said several missiles fired by Iran hit inside Israeli air force bases but did not cause any casualties or damage, without specifying which bases.

"During the Iranian attack yesterday (Tuesday), several missiles fell within Israeli air force bases. No offensive infrastructure or capabilities located on IAF (Israel Air Force) bases were damaged," the military said, adding that no casualties or damage to aircraft were reported.

Also read:Iran says attack on Israel is over as fears grow of wider conflict

Lebanon's caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon was in need of a ceasefire to end intensified hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, saying around 1.2 million across Lebanon had been displaced by Israeli attacks.

"Stop fighting. We don't need more blood. We don't need more destruction," Mikati said in a briefing organized by the American Task Force for Lebanon, a US-based lobby group. "There is an immediate need for a ceasefire," he added.

Iran's attack marked it biggest ever military blow against Israel.

Israel will respond to Iran's missile attack and its forces can strike anywhere in the Middle East, its military chief said.

"We will respond. We can locate important targets and we can hit them precisely and powerfully," said the Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi, in a video from an air force base in central Israel, one day after Iran's missile attack onIsrael.

"We have the capability to reach and strike every location in the Middle East and those of our enemies who have not yet understood this, will understand this soon."