TEL AVIV, October 18. /TASS/. Israel estimates Hezbollah’s losses from Israel’s operation in Lebanon at around 1,500 militants, Israeli Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi said.
"We estimate that there are around 1,500 eliminated Hezbollah operatives, and we are making reserved estimates, I assume there are more, and we don’t know, from many strikes," he said.
"Hezbollah is hiding casualties, they are hiding dead commanders," he said, adding that the fact that Hezbollah militants are surrendering "says something about the moral situation." "It says something about the level of combat, about their self-confidence," he noted.
Israel has been delivering massive airstrikes on Hezbollah military targets in Lebanon since September 23, when it launched Operation Northern Arrows. Israel’s declared goal is to create safe conditions in the country’s northern areas so that tens of thousands of local residents could return to their homes. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was reportedly killed in Israel’s strike on Beirut on September 27. In the early hours on October 1, Israel announced the launch of a ground operation in Lebanon’s border areas.
According to official data, Israel’s losses during ground operation in southern Lebanon stand at 15 soldiers.