BEIRUT / Stephanie Rady / Anadolu

The Lebanese army on Wednesday received the body of a soldier who was killed when his car was targeted by the Israeli army, which had held his remains for about three months.

The army said in a statement that it mourns 'the martyr soldier Patrick Antranik Bekarian, who was lost contact with on April 19, 2026, and it later turned out that he was martyred as a result of being targeted inside his car by the Israeli occupation forces, who held his body.'

He was received from the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to the statement.

Bekarian, from the city of Zahle (east), went missing while heading to southern Lebanon in last April under unknown circumstances.

Israel continues its aggression on Lebanon, which began on March 2, 2026, and has resulted in 4,324 people killed and 12,223 injured, in addition to the displacement of more than one million people, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health.

No official Lebanese statistics are available regarding the deaths of the Lebanese army from Israeli attacks.

Israel occupies areas in southern Lebanon, some for decades, and others since the previous war between 2023 and 2024, and it has also advanced during the current aggression to a distance exceeding 10 kilometers inside Lebanese territory.