Battle for Lebanese town takes its toll

[troung]

Battle for Lebanese town takes its toll

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Jul 24, 3:33 PM ET

ON THE ISRAEL-LEBANON BORDER - The heavy guns thundered before dawn Monday, sending deadly shells crashing down into the Lebanese border town and paving the way for the advancing Israeli tanks and troops.

By daybreak, bloody and bruised soldiers, shock etched deep in their faces, were streaming back over the border into
Israel.

The incessant crackle of gunfire pierced the air as explosions over the hills surrounding Bint Jbail kicked up plumes of gray smoke. All the while, tanks rolled back into Israel, ferrying the wounded over the rocky, barren landscape.

Two Israeli soldiers were killed and at least 20 were wounded Monday, the army said, as guerrillas in the town, a Hezbollah stronghold, issued a withering barrage of bullets, anti-tank missiles and mortar shells.

Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, chief of operations for the Israeli Defense Force, said between 100 and 200 Hezbollah fighters were fortified inside the town, while much of the civilian population had fled. Hezbollah, he said, suffered dozens of casualties.

As the tanks, doubling up as battlefield ambulances, crossed a breach in the electric border fence, they were met by medics waiting for the Israeli casualties.

One-by-one the wounded were carried out on stretchers. One young soldier had blood streaming down his leg, which was bound with a tourniquet. Another lay still on a stretcher, only his twitching legs indicating that he was alive.

Having brought back his wounded comrades, a tank driver sat on the turret clutching his head between his gloved hands and crying while two crew members tried to console him.

Ambulances rushed the wounded over roads dug up by tank tracks. They drove past fields left charred and barren by fires from hundreds of Hezbollah rockets and through the empty streets of ghost towns — their inhabitants hiding in bomb shelters.

Helicopters airlifted the seriously wounded out of the area.

Israel launched its operation in Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas killed three soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid on July 12. More than 350 people in Lebanon and more than 35 Israelis have been killed in the ensuing fighting.

Those wounded in the battle Monday were rushed to Haifa's Rambam hospital for treatment, some of them straight into surgery. Their worried friends and relatives sat on the plastic waiting room chairs, impatient for news. Only muted sobs and an occasional attempt at a joke to break the tension pierced the silence.

"You never think that your brother will be wounded in the army. It is the kind of thing that only happens to other families," said Daniel Gino, 19, whose 23-year-old brother was being operated on to remove a bullet from his shin. He declined to give his brother's name.

In the recovery room, another soldier, 21-year-old Yishai Green, lay in a bed with two large Israeli flags hanging next to him.

A group of French Jews on a solidarity visit tried to cheer him up with balloons, and another man went from room to room playing a guitar.

"It's a real mess and I am not allowed to talk about it," was all Green had to say about the battle for Bint Jbail, where much of the town's population of 30,000 is believed to have fled.

______

Associated Press Writer Delphine Matthieussent contributed to this report from Haifa.

[Confed999]

God be with them.

(I hope the majority of the civilians really were smart enough to get out.)

[troung]

'We almost got hit up on the hill. They've got our coordinates. Move'

Ground fighting has picked up pace but is proving harder than anticipated

Rory McCarthy
Tuesday July 25, 2006
The Guardian


A military vehicle sped in from the direction of Lebanon, a few hundred metres away across the border, and drew up sharply at the camp. An Israeli soldier wearing white surgical gloves jumped down, slung his assault rifle over his shoulder and started shouting at the troops around him. Until then, most had been leaning on their rucksacks, trying to get some rest in the shade next to a couple of D-9 armoured bulldozers, apparently unconcerned by the fighting in the distance.
"We almost got hit up on the hill," the soldier shouted, frantic now. "Move out of here. We've been exposed. They've got our coordinates. Move." One of Hizbullah's rocket-propelled grenades had landed uncomfortably close to a nearby forward Israeli position.

The soldiers jumped into their vehicles, arguing with each other as they turned their tracked armoured personnel carriers around on the narrow dirt road and pushed back behind the tree line, hoping to be out of range. Others sweated as they loaded a pile of heavy shells into the back of a truck.

"Get those cars out of here," shouted another soldier. "Get into the bushes. Don't move in groups. Take the ammunition. Everybody needs to leave."

A moment later Israeli tanks and field guns, positioned further back from the border, started up a volley of shelling that lasted several minutes, raining down heavy fire at several targets over the hilltops deeper into Lebanon. A column of grey smoke rose from the fields.

But the expected Hizbullah attack did not come and an hour later the soldiers were only a few hundred metres back from their original position, some still sitting in the shade, others in command tents poring over their maps.

Israel's military censorship orders prevent the naming of places where its troops are deployed or where they cross the border into southern Lebanon as part of the now extensive ground operations against Hizbullah. But it is obvious to the many civilians living in northern Israel that there are positions like these all along the border.

Thousands of troops, with tanks, armoured vehicles and bulldozers, are massed in the north. It is also clear that the ground fighting, which has picked up pace in the past week, is harder than the Israeli military first anticipated. So far 20 troops have been killed.

At least 10 soldiers were injured yesterday in heavy fighting just inside the Lebanese border and one tank was destroyed. Two crew were seriously injured when a military helicopter crashed on a hill in northern Israel, striking an electricity cable as it came down. Wreckage was spread over a wide area, setting fire to shrub land around it.

Israel says its forces have already taken the hilltop town of Maroun al-Ras and are pressing into the larger town of Bint Jbeil. From a distance Maroun al-Ras looks deserted, its dozen or so buildings sitting high on a hill overlooking northern Israel.

Next to a dark grey, five- or six-storey, unfinished house is a mobile telephone tower and next to that is a smaller tower, which yesterday appeared to have fluttering from it a yellow Hizbullah flag, which has a raised fist holding up a Kalashnikov. Other identical flags stood in a small act of defiance on otherwise deserted hillsides.

Back at the border position, some time after the troops had moved back, a large and ageing van appeared, playing loud religious songs and decorated with hand-painted signs that read Family Purity, Kosher Food, Charity and Love your fellow Jew. It parked among the military trucks and from within descended a dozen ultra-religious Jews, members of Chabad Lubavitch, a US-based Jewish movement.

They ran towards the soldiers trying to present them with prayer cards, encouragement and a reminder of commandments they should follow. One set up a small green table on the roadside and placed on it a bottle of Coca-Cola and a long, sliced cake. Few of the troops seemed to take any notice.

"Our mission," said Haim Nevo, 50, a tall man with a long, grey beard, "is to save the soldiers, to give them spiritual power." It is something he and his colleagues have done in the past at times of conflict in Israel.

Mr Nevo fought in the Israeli army during the last invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and was even deployed in Beirut. He had an uncompromising view of the justice of this latest war and blamed only Hizbullah for the civilian casualties inflicted on the Lebanese population.

"We should finish Hizbullah off," he said. "If someone wants to live in peace, they can stay here. But if anybody wants to fight, we have to kill them before they come to kill us. It is written in the Torah."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Sto...828103,00.html

[RambozoTheClown]

More than 350 people in Lebanon and more than 35 Israelis have been killed in the ensuing fighting.

i have not seen hezbollah casualty numbers.
looks like most of israel's offensive has been aimed at civilians

[TopHatter]

i have not seen hezbollah casualty numbers.
looks like most of israel's offensive has been aimed at civilians

Do you truly believe that the Israeli armed forces are deliberately targeting helpless civilians that pose no danger?

Or are you merely trolling for an infuriated response by our members?

[RambozoTheClown]

Do you truly believe that the Israeli armed forces are deliberately targeting helpless civilians that pose no danger?

no not necessarily, i really have no idea.
it just seems as if they have been.
upwards of 350 lebanese civilians dead.

do you have any hezbollah casualty numbers?

[troung]

The last qoute was 11 dead for sure. But that was a day or so ago.

A bunch of possibles which gets one to the body count issue. Several have been captured as well.

Hezbollah at the start did release the names of their own dead but I have not been able to keep up with it.

[TopHatter]

no not necessarily, i really have no idea.
it just seems as if they have been.

Then I suggest you qualify your remarks a little more before posting them.

upwards of 350 lebanese civilians dead.

Considering the amount of ordnance being thrown into major urban areas, do you consider that a large amount?

I have news for you. That is NOTHING compared to what it would be if the Israelis declared open season on Lebanese civilians.

do you have any hezbollah casualty numbers?

Troung has got that covered

[troung]

Hezbollah using Viet Cong-style defences
Monday, July 24 2006 @ 11:05 AM PDT

LONDON: Hezbollah is proving a tough opponent for Israel because of their Viet Cong-style network of tunnels in southern Lebanon, the authoritative Jane's Defence Weekly magazine said on Friday.

Hezbollah using Viet Cong-style defences

LONDON: Hezbollah is proving a tough opponent for Israel because of their Viet Cong-style network of tunnels in southern Lebanon, the authoritative Jane's Defence Weekly magazine said on Friday.

The Shiite Muslim militia has launched hundreds of rockets on towns in northern Israel and is seemingly still capable to carry on with the rocket strikes despite a punishing bombardment by the Jewish state, Jane's said.

The Israel Defence Force (IDF) has acknowledged that the number of Hezbollah casualties is low, estimated at no more than several dozen out of the nearly 340 killed in Lebanon since the fighting started, the magazine said.

Israel waged deadly strikes on Lebanon for the 10th day on Friday and mobilised more troops after warning it could launch a full-scale ground invasion -- despite mounting international calls for a ceasefire.

After more than 3,000 air raids against targets in Lebanon, according to a Jane's tally, the IDF ground units have now begun operating north of the Lebanese border, seeking to destroy Hezbollahs first line of defence.

Alon Ben-David, a Jane's Defence Weekly correspondent, said that intensive Israeli air raids had done limited damage to Hezbollah's defensive fortifications, despite IDF special forces launching small incursions into Lebanese territory.

"The Israeli forces have discovered that Hezbollah has established a Viet Cong-style network of tunnels and trenches close to the Israeli border, providing shelter for its operatives and their weapons," said Ben-David.

"The IDF is meeting a fierce resistance from Hezbollah and have suffered a considerable number of casualties in the fighting."

Viet Cong resistance fighters fought from a giant tunnel network during the Vietnam War, which ended in 1975.

Jane's said that Israel wanted to avoid a ground operation in Lebanon, though a growing number of IDF commanders were advocating that only a major offensive could bring about the collapse of Hezbollah as a fighting force.

"The IDF is deploying thousands of infantry personnel on the Lebanese border, although these are not accompanied by heavy armour which would signify a larger invasion," said Ben-David.

An unnamed senior defence source told Janes Defence Weekly: "We should consider that what we are facing in Lebanon is not a militia but rather a special forces brigade of the Iranian Army.

"They are extremely well trained and equipped and charged with high motivation to continue fighting."


http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?N...043072&CatID=9

[troung]

Heavy fighting, casualties as IDF pushes further into southern Lebanon
By Israel Insider staff and partners July 24, 2006

Heavy fighting erupted Monday as Israeli ground forces pushed further into Lebanon, entering another Hezbollah stronghold. An officer and a soldier were killed, and 14 soldiers were wounded, most lightly. 5 were injured from "friendly fire."

Hezbollah fired more than 100 rockets at northern Israel, wounding 8 lightly. Israeli troops seized a hilltop in the Lebanese town of Bint Jbail after a heavy artillery barrage, but the IDF has not taken control of the town yet.

Nearly constant gunfire and explosions could be heard in southern Lebanon from the Israeli side of the border, and large plumes of gray smoke rose over the area.

Several Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers were seen heading toward the battle, but two tanks also traversed the rocky hills at high speed, crossing back into Israel to carry wounded soldiers out. The wounded were taken to civilian ambulances, which sped off toward hospitals with sirens blaring.

Ten IDF soldiers -- including a senior officer -- were evacuated to Rambam Hospital in Haifa and to Ziv Hospital in Safed, with wounds ranging from light to moderate.

The military said it captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, and Israeli media said attacks by Israel's air force had caused some Hezbollah casualties.

Bint Jbail, a major town, is about 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) north of the hilltop village of Maroun al-Ras, another Hezbollah center which the IDF took after fierce fighting over the weekend. That town is less than 500 yards from the border.

The army said it was expanding its ground operation in Lebanon, which had been limited during the two-week offensive to pinpoint operations near the border -- a policy that military analysts said may well be insufficient to achieve Israel's goal of pushing Hezbollah back and destroying its ability to attack Israel.

"The scope continues to grow in recent days," Brig. Gen. Alon Friedman told Israel Army Radio. "We are advancing."

Friedman said the operation would continue for up to 10 days "in order to achieve the basic goals we set down," including trying to stop Hezbollah rocket fire.

The Israeli military said that during the past 24 hours its planes had hit more than 270 targets across Lebanon, including 21 missile launchers, more than 50 Hezbollah buildings and Hezbollah communication lines.

The army said it captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, the first it had taken any into custody during the fighting. "When the enemy surrenders, we take them prisoner. The two prisoners are located in Israel and will be held here with the aim of interrogating them," said Friedman.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was traveling to the Middle East on Monday to discuss the crisis with officials. She met Monday night with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and will meet on Tuesday with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

More than 80 rockets fired by Hezbollah terrorists reportedly hit Israel on Monday, bringing the total number of rockets fired to over 2500.

Major fires ignited by rockets and artillery are destroying forests on both sides of the Lebanon-Israel border.

On Sunday 95 rockets were fired into Israel, killing two people in the city of Haifa, the military said.

Israel launched its operation in Lebanon after Hezbollah guerrillas killed three soldiers and captured two others in a cross-border raid on July 12.

Hezbollah leaders had demanded that Israel release Palestinian and Hezbollah prisoners to win freedom for the two captured Israeli soldiers. Israel has ruled out talks, demanding the unconditional return of its soldiers, but it has negotiated such exchanges in the past.

At least 381 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters, according to security officials. Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese have fled their homes.

Israel's death toll stands at 37, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 22 soldiers killed in the fighting. Sixty-eight soldiers have been wounded, and 255 civilians injured by rocket fire, officials said.

The AP contributed to this report.
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/8938.htm

[troung]

Guerilla tactics take soldiers by surprise
Stephen Farrell and Nicholas Blanford
July 26, 2006

Limbering up: Israeli soldiers prepare for another day at their artillery position near Fasuta, northern Israel. AP

"WE have to go. They're shooting at us," the Israeli soldier shouted, gesticulating for his men to pull back. "We're exposed. Everybody needs to leave and go into the bushes. Don't move in groups. Now go!"
Moments earlier, one of his unit's vehicles had sped down the country lane, its driver yelling that he had almost been hit byaHezbollah rocket-propelled grenade. With a grinding of gears, the country lane filled with Israeli men and materiel moving rapidly away from the border, towards the cover of trees.

Although the Israelis have launched thousands of airstrikes and artillery shells into southern Lebanon, Hezbollah fighters are still capable of surprising Israeli troops. The exact location of this unit cannot be given because of Israeli military censorship.

Within sight of Israeli roads, a dozen Hezbollah flags could be seen fluttering along a 48km stretch of border, from Shtula - near the site of the Islamist group's initial cross-border raid on July 12 - to Metulla, the location of the Good Fence Border Crossing. Two of the bright yellow banners could still be seen yesterday over Maroun al-Ras, seized by Israel from Hezbollah over the weekend.

Along the same frontier, smoke drifted across the hills, emanating from the numerous rockets that Hezbollah fired into Israel, striking Haifa, Nahariya and Shlomi. Thirteen people were wounded.

Another blaze marked where an Israeli military helicopter crashed into an electricity pylon near Rehaniya, killing two crew members during an emergency landing. Hezbollah claimed to have shot it down, but Israeli officials, though not ruling out an attack, said "it appears more likely to be a technical fault".

The heaviest fighting in recent days has been around Maroun al-Ras, as Israeli forces push towards Bint Jbail, 4km inside Lebanon.

Hezbollah claimed to have hit five tanks there, and the Israeli military confirmed that nine soldiers had been wounded. Two Hezbollah fighters captured on Sunday were taken to Israel.

"We intend to clear out this place to prevent the firing of Katyusha rockets at Israel," said army spokeswoman Brigadier-General Miri Regev.

In more than 40 Israeli air raids on Lebanon, at least seven civilians were reported killed. Hezbollah acknowledged that three fighters had died.

Security sources in south Lebanon said the Hezbollah force fighting around Maroun al-Ras consisted of 50 well-armed, battle-hardened fighters, almost all with combat experience against Israeli occupation forces in the 1990s.

Acting semi-autonomously, they use caves, bunkers and dugouts in the brush-covered hills to avoid detection by Israeli drones and air strikes.

Using traditional guerilla tactics of retreating when the enemy advances and pushing forward when the enemy withdraws, Hezbollah is proving to be an elusive and tenacious adversary.

Last week, Israeli troops crossed the border at the hamlet of Marwahine, uncovering several anti-tank missiles, Katyusha rockets, rifles and ammunition. The troops withdrew from Marwahine on Friday.

"The next morning, there were Katyusha rockets being fired from where the Israelis had been," a security source said.

Sources believe the Hezbollah cells in the south are using encrypted short-burst radio transmissions to remain in contact with the leadership in Beirut and that the chain of command remains unbroken.

While the Hezbollah cells remain deployed close to the border, most of the rocket batteries have retreated north.

The Times
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-31477,00.html

[Alistriwen]

Very interesting articles, garbage though.

Hezbollah is not "proving to be more difficult than anticipated," they are proving to be more fanatical and insane than expected. Take the time to look at IDF videos where they take out Hezbollah armaments. They are LITERALLY on top of apartment buildings, they are LITERALLY embedded in residential areas (something the media doesn't think is worth mentioning, surprise surprise.) The only reason it is taking so long (24 hours to capture each town) is that Israel is being very careful to avoid civilian casualties. If they did away with the idea of precision strikes they could have the entirety of lebanon and assuredly the destruction of all of hezbollah in a matter of days, anyone who doubts this is a fool.

Of course, the media, pandering to the terrorists as always would like to play it off as being "more difficult than anticipated," it scores more ratings than, "Israel takes casualties in attempt to spare civilian lives." Stop deluding yourselves, this is only difficult because the Israeli command is making it more difficult. If I were in charge, I wouldn't pay so much mind to civilians, as they were given ample time to get out roads or not.

On another note, the number of hezbollah casualties is approaching the 200 mark as per IDF estimates. Of course, hezbollah wouldn't admit that, but I always find it funny when people take the word of terrorist groups over a national government that routinely admits to failures of every sort when they do actually occur. As far as I know, the only casualties hezbollah has admitted to are those for which the idf has body bags as proof. Naturally though, the IDF wont risk the lives of its soldiers for PR, unlike the fanatics.
Anyways, let the media keep goading the Israelis and maybe they will go wholesale and throw caution to the wind for a quick easy win. I pray to God that they do.

[troung]

Behind Israel's New Battle Strategy
The siege of Bint Jebeil shows how Israel has learned that, despite its overwhelming technological superiority, it has to fight Hizballah on its own terms -- in prolonged and messy ground battles
By TIM MCGIRK/JERUSALEM

Posted Tuesday, Jul. 25, 2006
In Hebrew, the word 'Merkava' means chariot, and the Israeli tank known as Merkava 4, is a mighty, steel-plated chariot of war. But in the stony hills of southern Lebanon, in battles where stealth is more valued than firepower, the chariot is reduced to being an ambulance, ferrying wounded commandos back across the border. And even then, the tank is proving to be less than invincible.

On Monday, two tanks were dispatched to pick up Israeli soldiers wounded in the siege of Bint Jebeil, a town used by Hizballah Islamic militants to spray the northern corners of Israel with rocket fire. The town also has symbolic value to Hizballah; it was here in 2000 that Hizballah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah proclaimed victory after Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon. The sheikh' s jeering remarks had riled the Israeli generals, so they didn't need any extra motivation this week when Bint Jebeil, its tunnels and caves stocked with rockets and over 100 Hizballah fighters, turned into a major target of the theirs.

As the two tanks came rumbling back with their wounded cargo, they came under fire. A missile blasted one of the Merkav 4s, killing a soldier and injuring a battalion commander. The second ran over a large explosive device planted by Hizballah that is identical to those used to such devastating effect against U.S. armored forces in Iraq. The force of the blast flipped over the 65 ton tank, killing the vehicle's commander and injuring three other crew. Earlier in the 12-day ground offensive, the Israelis had lost another tank to a hidden mine, killing four men.

Israel may have a technological superiority over Hizballah, but in the hide-and-seek dynamic of a guerrilla war, tanks and air strikes aren' t always enough. Some Israeli military officers are worried that the war is being waged the way the guerrillas want, dragging the Israeli Defense Forces into prolonged and messy battles on alien turf. Early on, the Israeli plan was to launch swift punches on the militants' rocket-launching positions and then to withdraw. But Hizballah began to play the game by their rules, drawing the Israeli troops into lengthy ambushes in places where their vaunted 21st century war machine was of little or no use. Not only were the guerrillas masters of the terrain, but they were equipped with top-of-the line anti-tank missiles. The first hard lesson was dealt to the Israelis in a hilltop village known as Maroun al Ras, just 500 meters from the Israeli border. What was intended as a lightning blow by the Israelis turned into a three-day slugfest.

Early on, the Israelis were reluctant to send lots of troops into the fray; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted to keep down casualties and reassure the international community that Israel had no intention of grabbing real estate in Lebanon. And, according to military sources, the Israelis also lacked on-the ground intelligence, so they under-estimated Hizballah' s strength and its determination to punch it out. Despite the Israeli offensive, Hizballah still managed to sling over 2,000 rockets onto Israel.

But after the toll rose to 23 dead and 80 wounded, the IDF had learned their lesson. When it came to a ground offensive, big was better. No longer would they rely on small bands of commandos to flush Hizballah out of their trenches and underground hideouts. By Tuesday, the third day of the offensive, over 5,000 troops were called in to lay siege to Bint Jebeil, most of whose 30,000 Shi'ite inhabitants had long since fled. Facing that kind of full-scale onslaught, Hizballah's fighters have no choice but to flee by night or fight it out. "There is still fighting going on," an army spokesman told journalists on Tuesday. "I can't say we are in total control of the village yet."

With its large army and its overwhelming firepower, Israel will eventually pry the Hizballah militants off the Lebanese border. The problem is it could take weeks, or longer. In recent days, a note of caution has crept into the soundbites of various Israeli military officers. Gone are the boasts that Hizballah will be hammered into oblivion. Instead, they're urging diplomacy and calling for the presence of a robust international peace-keeping force along the border to halt Hizballah's rocketmen. Meanwhile, as casualties rise, many of Israel' s formidable chariots of war are being pressed into ambulance service.

- With reporting by Aaron. J Klein/Jerusalem

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...218814,00.html

[RambozoTheClown]

Considering the amount of ordnance being thrown into major urban areas, do you consider that a large amount?

isnt one death too many?
sure it isnt 1,000 or 100,000.

there is peaceful options, the world court and u.n. security council.
thats irrelevant though because were here now...

[TopHatter]

isnt one death too many?
sure it isnt 1,000 or 100,000.

Go back and re-read what I posted.

That was a comparison. In other words, you seemed to have been under the rather ridiculous impression that the Israelis were deliberately targeting civilians. 350 killed is far too low to make that conclusion.

there is peaceful options, the world court and u.n. security council.
thats irrelevant though because were here now...

No, it's irrelevant because those organizations prefer to fiddle while the supplicant burns. Or haven't you read your history?