Milan, 26 May (LaPresse) – Hezbollah has reported being engaged in close-quarters firefights with Israeli soldiers who were ‘advancing towards Zaoutar el-Sharqiyé’, a town in the Nabatiyé district in southern Lebanon, but situated north of the Litani River and outside the “buffer zone” effectively established by Israel. In a statement, the Shia militia-party claimed to have used missiles, artillery shells and kamikaze drones against this ‘composite force’ and to have ‘engaged it directly in combat’. It specified that these clashes took place after the village was bombarded by ‘intense air raids and artillery fire’ from the Israelis. During these clashes, which are ‘still ongoing’, a Merkava tank was ‘destroyed by an Ababil attack drone’. This was reported by L’Orient Le Jour.