The French army announces the killing of one of its soldiers in southern Lebanon

The French Army Chief of Staff announced on Wednesday the death of a French soldier who was stationed in Lebanon after being hit by an “accidental” bullet during training.

The Chief of Staff added in a post on the X platform that soldier Florian Gillet, 21 years old, was stationed in southern Lebanon “as part of an operational partnership mission to support the Lebanese Armed Forces.”

Defense Minister Catherine Vautran stated that he was a member of the 8th Marine Parachute Regiment.

A statement from the Ministry of Defense stated that he arrived in Lebanon on June 1, adding, “Despite the speedy attention given to him, he died as a result of his injury.”

Gillet is the fourth French soldier to die in the Middle East since the outbreak of the war that began with Israeli-American strikes on Iran at the end of February.

In April, French soldiers Anisé Girardin and Florian Montourio were killed as part of their participation in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), in an ambush that France and the United Nations attributed to Hezbollah, which denied its involvement.

Before that, soldier Arnaud Frion was killed in Iraq in March in a march attack attributed to an armed group close to Iran.