ISRAEL: Israeli soldiers return with Hizbollah and Lebanese flags after a battle on Israel's border with Lebanon, while Hizbollah rockets continue to rain down on northern Israel

Israeli soldiers returned with Hizbollah and Lebanese flags after a battle on Tuesday (July 25) on Israel's border with Lebanon, while Hizbollah rockets continued to rain down on northern Israeli cities and towns. As tanks rolled out of southern Lebanon, Israeli soldiers returned waving Lebanese and Hizbollah flags. Forces battled to take over a second Hizbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon in intensifying ground clashes with the guerrillas' frontier garrison, sources on both sides said. One tank commander said his unit had been in Lebanon for 72 hours. He said that his unit engaged Hizbollah fighters, but avoided being shot. "They do what they can. We do what we can. I don't know how strong. They tried to shoot us several times. They didn't succeed. We succeeded to avoid the shooting," Erez, the tank commander said. He added that it was difficult to gauge the numbers of Hizbollah guerillas Israeli soldiers were facing. "I can't tell you. It's hard to see them because they shoot from high, from hidden places, and run away. They shoot and go. They don't face us because if they face us, they don't have a chance," Erez said. Calling Bint Jbeil "one of the major Hizbollah centres," an Israeli military spokesman said tanks and troops had sealed off the town, killed or wounded dozens of guerrillas, and were engaged in sporadic fire-fights with the hold-outs. Hizbollah had no immediate word on its casualties but said in a statement that its men were fighting Israeli forces on Bint Jbeil's outskirts and the surrounding area. Al Jazeera television said four Israeli soldiers were wounded in Tuesday's clashes. The Israeli army did not comment on fresh casualties, but has said two tank crewmen were killed in Bint Jbeil on Monday while several more soldiers were wounded. Taking Bint Jbeil could be a morale-booster for Israel, which launched a Lebanese offensive after Hizbollah killed eight soldiers and abducted two others in a July 12 border raid. Some 400 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 35 Israelis have since died. In northern Israel, communities remained on alert for rockets fired from Lebanon by Hizbollah fighters. A fresh barrage of Hizbollah rockets hit the northern Israeli city of Haifa on Tuesday, wounding at least five people, medics said. Israel Radio said 16 rockets had hit Haifa, many of them landing in open areas. Several plumes of smoke could be seen rising from near seaside residential areas. The area near the city hospital in Haifa was also hit. Rockets also struck other parts of northern Israel. It was unclear if there were casualties from those attacks. dp/jrc

ITN Source | July 25, 2006

Tags:. .chance. .medics. .launched. .military. .strong