Fighting rages at border as Israeli troops move further into Lebanon
Nine Israeli soldiers were wounded in the battle.
An Israeli helicopter also crashed in northern Israel near the border after hitting an electrical wire while making an emergency landing, killing its two pilots, the army said.
Israeli artillery barrages sent plumes of smoke into the air and the military said soldiers took control of a hilltop inside Bint Jbail, about two miles from the border.
But the remainder of the town was still in Hezbollah hands, Israeli military officials said. Ten Israeli soldiers were wounded in the attack, the military said.
Hezbollah claimed to have caused Israeli casualties in hits on five tanks moving on the road to Bint Jbail and around Maroun al-Ras, a hilltop village closer to the border that Israeli ground forces seized in heavy fighting over the weekend.
Israel said it captured two Hezbollah guerrillas, the first since fighting began.
Bint Jbail holds a strong symbolism for Hezbollah. Signs around the city tout its nickname, earned for its vehement backing of the guerrillas even while Israeli troops held the south.
A day after Israeli troops ended their occupation in 2000, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah went straight to Bint Jbail for his first celebration rally.
Much of the town’s population of more than 30,000 is believed to have fled, but many are still there.
A Red Cross doctor who visited Bint Jbail yesterday, Dr Hassan Nasreddine, said he saw families crowded into schools and mosques and other shelters. He could not estimate how many remained.
Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said that an Israeli ground invasion would not protect Israel from Hezbollah rocket attacks. He said the priority is for a cease-fire and was open to discussing ideas on how to end the crisis.
Overnight, a precarious calm prevailed, with no rocket attacks on northern Israel and few reports of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon. Sunday was one the heaviest days of Israeli bombardment in the campaign, with 270 targets, compared to 120 the day before.
Still, Hezbollah has continued to hit northern Israel with rockets, though with slightly less intensity — 95 on Sunday and 129 the day before, according to the Israeli military. UN observers in south Lebanon said the Israeli numbers appear accurate.
Yesterday morning, Israeli strikes resumed and Hezbollah fired more than 40 rockets into northern Israel, slightly wounding 13.
At least 384 people have been killed in Lebanon, including 20 soldiers and 11 Hezbollah fighters, according to security officials.
At least 600,000 Lebanese have fled their homes, according to the WHO — with one estimate by Lebanon’s finance minister putting the number at 750,000, nearly 20% of the population.
Israel’s death toll stands at 36, with 17 people killed by Hezbollah rockets and 19 soldiers killed in fighting.
The daily toll in Lebanon appeared to be slowing — with six civilians reported killed yesterday — likely a reflection of the exodus of Lebanese from the heaviest hit areas or the difficulty of getting correct figures.
As much as 40% of the 200,000 people who live in villages along the strip of territory closest to the border are likely still in their homes, too afraid to move because of Israeli shelling or unable to because roads are cut off, UN observers said.
They now lie in the path of any Israeli advances.
Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia were pushing Syria to end its support for the guerrillas, Arab diplomats in Cairo said.
Israel signalled a policy shift, saying it would accept an international force — preferably from NATO — to ensure the peace in southern Lebanon.
More foreigners evacuated Lebanon by sea from Beirut port. A ferry commissioned by European countries set off from the southern port of Tyre, carrying around 300 people of varying nationalities out of the bomb-ravaged area, where road access has been cut by the destruction of highways and bridges in Israeli airstrikes.
A group of 300 Americans and 100 other Europeans were believed to be trapped in villages south of the city, said Erik Rattat, a German military official involved in the evacuation. It did not appear that they made it to the ship.
Some 4,500 British citizens and 12,000 Americans have left. British officials said that they had no more citizens asking to go.
Officials were trying to speed the delivery of aid down bomb-shattered roads to the south where they’re needed most — though Israel has not defined a safe route to the region.
Two convoys carrying generators for hospitals, food, tarpaulins and hygienic kits were heading from Beirut to Tyre and the southern city of Marjayoun yesterday, said ICRC spokesman in Lebanon Hisham Hassan.
