The Media Line: IDF Officer Aviaad Volansky Killed by Anti-Tank Fire in Southern Lebanon

IDF Officer Aviaad Volansky Killed by Anti-Tank Fire in Southern Lebanon   

By The Media Line Staff  

An Israeli soldier was killed Thursday during fighting in southern Lebanon after Hezbollah fighters fired anti-tank missiles at an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit, the military said, as operations continue across the border.  

The soldier was identified as Lt. Aviaad Elchanan Volansky, 21, from Jerusalem, a tank crewman in the 77th Battalion of the Armored Corps. He was operating with a Golani Brigade combat team at the time of the attack.  

According to the IDF, two anti-tank missiles were launched at the force. One was intercepted by an active defense system, while the second hit the tank. Four other soldiers —including two officers—sustained light injuries. Israeli forces returned fire with gunfire and artillery toward the source of the attack.  

Volansky was the son of Brig. Gen. (res.) Yair Volansky, who serves as defense establishment comptroller, and is the grandson of Rabbi Oded Volansky, a prominent figure in the religious Zionist community. His father previously commanded the same battalion.  

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Volansky “fell in heroic combat in southern Lebanon defending the State of Israel and its citizens,” adding that his father works alongside him and describing him as “a man of mission, dedication and integrity.”  

The fatal attack came in the same sector where Staff Sgt. Ori Greenberg, 21, a Golani reconnaissance soldier from Petah Tikva, was killed overnight in close-quarters combat with Hezbollah terrorists. Separately, an officer was moderately wounded overnight by IDF fire, and 14 soldiers were hospitalized due to suspected hypothermia.