Re: Israel humiliated /Israel's response (threads)
JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY - AUGUST 09, 2006
IDF setback at Bint Jbeil
Ed Blanche JDW Special Correspondent
Beirut
An elite unit of the Israel Defence Force (IDF) suffered a major setback in its thrust into south Lebanon on 26 July when it was confronted by fighters from the Islamic Resistance - the armed wing of the Lebanese Shi'ite Party of God (Hizbullah) - in the strategic hilltop village of Bint Jbeil.
In fierce close-quarter fighting, often hand-to-hand, two infantry companies of the IDF Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion were apparently ambushed in the village's narrow streets.
The IDF suffered eight dead - including the battalion's deputy commander, Major Roi Klein, who threw himself on a grenade - and 25 wounded; they were forced to withdraw in some of the heaviest combat since the fighting began on 12 July.
The battle of Bint Jbeil (Arabic for 'Daughter of the Mountain') underlined the difficulties the IDF faces in pushing Hizbullah out of the chain of interlocking strongpoints, including fortified bunker networks, it has built since the Israelis unilaterally withdrew from south Lebanon on 23 May.
Hizbullah is forcing the Israelis to fight on its terms on ground of its choosing, negating much of the IDF's firepower and its doctrine of highly mobile operations.
Bint Jbeil, 4 km from the Israeli border, dominates several key roads in the rolling hills and wadis east of Tyre and was a strategic objective in the armour-led Israeli thrust that began on 20-21 July to establish a cordon sanitaire to halt Hizbullah rocket fire into northern Israel.
The IDF had declared on 25 July that it controlled Bint Jbeil, which proved to be totally false. Intelligence had estimated 30-40 Hizbullahis were holding the town, when in fact there were closer to 200, including men from surrounding villages who had reinforced the garrison during the night.
After six hours of combat, two more Israeli companies were sent in to help evacuate the wounded, carrying them 3 km under fire to four waiting UH-60 Black Hawk utility helicopters. The IDF withdrew from Bint Jbeil on 29 July and by 31 July Hizbullah had given little ground.