The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it has launched an investigation after confirming it attacked a vehicle carrying Lebanese soldiers in southern Lebanon.
The Lebanese Army said Saturday’s “aggressive and barbaric” strike had killed a brigadier-general, a captain and a private. The IDF said the vehicle was “moving suspiciously towards forces” and gunfire had been reported in the area.
Israel is not in direct conflict with the Lebanese government, which is involved in talks with Israel to secure a ceasefire.
But it has been fighting Hezbollah since March, primarily in southern Lebanon, from where the Iran-backed armed group has launched rocket and drone attacks into northern Israel.
The strike against the Lebanese army vehicle happened on a road close to the village of Kfar Tebnit, around four miles north of the Litani River and close to the city of Nabatieh, where there has been intense fighting and displacement in recent months.
The IDF said the vehicle it struck was travelling in an “active and evacuated combat zone” where it believes Hezbollah has operated from.
A statement said troop movements in the area require coordination with the IDF, and repeated that its forces “are operating against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation, not against the Lebanese Army”.
The Lebanese Army has reacted furiously to the attack, accusing Israel of “brutal, deliberate and repeated aggression”.
The victims have been identified as Brig Gen Samer Sabra, Cpt Elie Khoury, and Pte Hassan Ghazal.
News of the attack comes after Hezbollah’s leadership rejected efforts to revive a US-backed ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon following talks which did not involve the Iran-backed group.
That agreement stipulated Israel would not attack Hezbollah positions in the capital Beirut if the group did not attack Israel, as well as making provisions for “pilot” security zones inside southern Lebanon from which the group would be banned from operating.
Hezbollah’s leader Naim Qassem rejected the deal, calling talks between Lebanon and Israel “futile”.
Lebanon’s government wants to end the fighting on its territory, which has previously involved major air strikes on its capital city.
It has said a ceasefire was necessary for its forces to disarm Hezbollah themselves, but Israel has previously accused the government in Beirut of lacking the ability to do so. –BBC
UK surgeons use new AI powered tool during live operation
A new tool powered by artificial intelligence has been used by surgeons in the UK for the first time.
The Eureka system colour codes parts of the body to help doctors protect or dissect different parts of the anatomy during surgery.
Developed by doctors in Japan who trained the tool using thousands of videos of surgical procedures, the portable AI unit was used on a UK patient for the first time on Thursday.
The woman in her 60s, who was not named, received a bowel resection at St Mark’s, the National Bowel Hospital in northwest London.
Consultant surgeon Mr Kapil Sahnan said the tool helps you “look at your live surgery and start telling you which are the hidden structures which perhaps you can’t see… You have this kind of extra helping arm with artificial intelligence running at the same time as your surgery, preventing errors and making everything a lot safer.”
He added: “Another way of thinking about it is, I remember that my mother used to use an A to Z when she had to plan routes. Now we all use Google Maps and Waze.
“And this is that version of kind of navigation that now has been applied to surgery.
Mr Sahnan said efforts were under way to work out how “we can genuinely prove that this is going to be advantageous and, more importantly, how we can start rolling it out.”
“We’re lucky to have it today, but it would be amazing if everybody had it in the next couple of years, it would make surgery for everybody a lot safer,” he added. –Skynews
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