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Israeli fire fighters and rescue teams approach the wreckage of the helicopter collision.
Photo: AP , AP
The names of three of the four soldiers, killed in a harsh battle between IDF and Hizbullah on Thursday were released for publication on Friday.
Maj. Binyamin Hillman, 27, from Maccabim-Reut was to be buried at 12:30 p.m. on Friday in Ra'anana. First Sergeant Muskal Refanael, 21, from Mazkeret Batya was to be buried on Friday in his hometown at 2:30 p.m. The funeral for 21-year-old First Sergeant Nadav Baeloha was to be conducted at 2 p.m. in Karmiel where he lived. Meanwhile, First Sergeant Yotam Gilboa, 21, who was killed in the same place on Wednesday, was also to be buried on Friday at Kibbutz Maoz Haim.
Six soldiers were also wounded in the heavy exchange that took place near the Lebanese village of Maroun a-Ras, adjacent to Moshav Avivim.
Ground troops were sent across the border to the same sector as where two soldiers were killed the previous day, in order to engage Hizbullah guerillas that were firing mortar rounds towards Avivim.
Soldiers operating in Maroun a-Ras reported finding rocket launchers, explosives and other weapons in a mosque there.
IDF forces destroy Hizbullah post in southern Lebanon overnight.
Photo: IDF
IDF sources said 30-40 Hizbullah gunmen were killed during the combat.
Late Thursday, IAF pilot Maj. Ran Yehoshua Kochava, 37, was killed and three other pilots were injured - one critically, one moderately and one lightly - when two IAF Apache attack helicopters crashed near the Israel-Lebanon border.
Kochava's funeral was scheduled for 3 p.m. at Beit Hananya, where he lived.
The officers were set to carry out an operation over Lebanon and it appeared that the helicopters collided on the way, near Ramot Naftali, some 5 kilometers from the border. Witnesses said that one helicopter avoided crashing within the moshav, while the other tried unsuccessfully to execute an emergency landing, Army Radio reported.
IAF commander Maj.-Gen. Eliezer Shkedy has ordered an investigation into the circumstances of the crash but IDF sources stressed that the collision was not a result of enemy fire from Lebanon.
The IAF has conducted over 3000 sorties over Lebanon since Operation Changing Direction commenced last Wednesday.
A high-ranking IDF officer said the difficulties troops encountered in the fighting on Thursday could prompt a larger-scale ground offensive into southern Lebanon.
OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam said that the army needed weeks to meet its goal of significantly impairing Hizbullah's ability to launch attacks against Israel.
"We need several more weeks," Adam told The Post in an exclusive interview. "We have more work ahead of us since it [Hizbullah] is still succeeding to fire rockets."
US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice is expected to travel to Israel next week, generating speculation that Israel might have to wrap up its offensive around the time of her visit.
In a day filled with intense fighting two kilometers inside Lebanon, the IDF sustained heavy casualties just north of Avivim, the same place where two soldiers from the elite Maglan unit were killed on Wednesday.
Earlier Thursday, three soldiers were wounded, two seriously and one moderately after soldiers from an elite paratrooper's unit, operating near the community of Zar'it, engaged Hizbullah gunmen. A tank that followed the troops into Lebanon was hit by a missile and two soldiers were wounded.
The IDF said that at least three Hizbullah gunmen were killed in the clashes. Officers said the Egoz unit succeeded in hitting six Hizbullah terror cells, although it was unclear how gunmen many were killed.
Throughout the day, the IAF struck over 100 targets in Lebanon, including five rocket launchers and three Hizbullah training camps. Close to 50 Katyushas landed throughout northern Israel.
Hizbullah's Al-Manar television aired pictures of captured IDF equipment.
While Adam refused to estimate the exact damage caused to Hizbullah since the IDF launched Operation Change of Direction last Wednesday, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said Thursday that 50 percent of the group's capabilities had been destroyed.
