http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/...198268162.html
Hezbollah hits back as army holds its ground
Email Print Normal font Large font Beirut
August 4, 2006
HEZBOLLAH guerillas firing anti-tank rockets, mortars and assault rifles have attacked Israeli forces at their positions inside south Lebanon, according to security sources.
Two Israeli soldiers were killed in the clashes yesterday and other soldiers injured.
Israeli artillery and aircraft pounded a cluster of frontier villages, killing at least two people, while the guerillas launched salvos of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel killing five people, police said, and several were injured. Two died in Acre and three in Maalot.
About 80 Hezbollah guerillas have been killed in the group's 23-day-old war against Israel, a Lebanese security source said yesterday, though Israel estimates about 300 Hezbollah fighters have died. Hezbollah admits to about 45 deaths.
Hezbollah said it destroyed two tanks in attacks near the border village of Aita al-Shaab, inflicting casualties.
The Israeli army said 15 soldiers wounded in Lebanon in recent fighting were evacuated to Israel, and that Hezbollah fire had delayed the transfer.
Israeli forces are holding their positions at five places some two to four kilometres inside Lebanon. The forces were not trying to advance as of press time early this morning.
Israel has expanded the ground war in southern Lebanon, where seven brigades — up to 10,000 troops — are battling Hezbollah.
REUTERS