☠Israel's southern commander killed

On 28 February 1999 General Erez Gerstein, commander of the Israeli liaison unit in South Lebanon, was killed by a roadside bomb that hit his convoy near Kawkaba in the border strip; the most senior Israeli officer killed in Lebanon since 1982. It was a double operation on the Hasbani–Kawkaba road in which four were killed: Gerstein, his aide, his driver and Israel Radio's military correspondent; three were wounded and vehicles burned.