An Israeli soldier was killed and 21 other soldiers were wounded on Saturday in fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas in south Lebanon, the military said early Sunday.

According to an Israeli army spokesman, the soldier was the first reservist to be killed during the 25-day-long Israeli offensive.

He was killed in a battle with the Lebanese Shiite guerrillas that took place in the village of Aita al-Chaab near the Israeli border, the spokesman said, adding Hezbollah used anti-tank rockets.

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army said that one soldier was also killed in fierce clashes with Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon overnight.

An Israeli soldier of the engineering corps was killed in the eastern area of southern Lebanon when a mortar shell fired by Hezbollah guerillas hit his vehicle, said the army, adding another soldier was wounded.

Meanwhile, eight Israeli naval commandos were wounded, two of them in serious condition, in a battle in the Lebanese coastal city of Tyre on Saturday, said the army.

The Tyre operation targeted Hezbollah rocket launchers including those used to launch rockets onto the Israeli city of Hadera, it added.

A total of some 46 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict erupted on July 12 after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed into Israel and attacked an army patrol, killing eight soldiers and capturing two others.

Source: Xinhua