Jerusalem, Oct 5 (IANS): Two Israeli soldiers have been killed in a drone attack by Iraqi militants in the occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli military said in a statement on Friday.

The two soldiers from the Golani Brigade, both aged 19, "fell during combat", the military said. Another soldier and a non-commissioned officer from the same brigade were severely injured in the incident, Xinhua news agency reported.

Meanwhile, Israel's state-owned Kan TV news reported that 22 more soldiers sustained lighter injuries.

The explosive drone struck before dawn a post where the soldiers were located, the military said, adding a second drone was intercepted.

Earlier, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it had carried out three drone attacks against targets in the Israeli city of Tiberias and the Golan Heights.

Since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has conducted multiple strikes against Israeli and US targets in the region to show support for Palestinians in Gaza. The group has recently escalated its attacks on Israel as the latter intensified its strikes against Hezbollah across Lebanon.

Regarding the Lebanon front, the Israeli military said Friday that it had struck more than 2,000 sites, including "infrastructure, military buildings, weapons depots, launchers, and more", as well as killed around 250 militants, since the start of its ground operation into southern Lebanon late on Monday.