A well-planned Hizbullah ambush on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Bint Jbail on Wednesday devastated Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade, leaving eight soldiers, including three officers, dead and 24 wounded.
Top row from left: Lt. Alexander Schwartzman, Lt. Amihai Merhavia, Sgt. Asaf Namer, Sgt. Ohad Klausner.
Bottom row from left: Lt.-Col. Ro'i Klein, St.-Sgt. Shimon Adega, St.-Sgt. Shimon Dahan, Lt. Yiftah Shrier.
Photo: IDF
Later, a paratrooper officer was killed and three of his men were wounded, two seriously, when hit by an anti-tank missile on the outskirts of nearby Maroun al-Ras. The officer was later identified as Lt. Yiftah Shrier, 21, from Haifa.
For Jerusalem Online video coverage of the day's events click here.
Dozens of Hizbullah gunmen armed with antitank missiles and machine guns and geared up in night-vision goggles and bulletproof vests set a trap for a force of Golani infantrymen led by Lt.-Col. Yaniv Asor, commander of Battalion 51. At 5 a.m. Wednesday, Asor and his men asked the Golani command center for permission to enter an area of the outskirts of Bint Jbail. Col. Tamir Yidai, commander of the brigade, gave the green light for the operation.
Asor and his men moved quickly through approximately 15 one-story homes. But as the troops moved through the narrow alleyways, a strong Hizbullah force sent a wave of gunfire and missiles at the force, killing and wounding several soldiers in the first moments of the fight. As Asor and his men fought to regain control of the situation, other Hizbullah cells outflanked them and opened fire on the force as well as other IDF positions in the town.
A soldier is evacuated to the hospital.
Photo: AP [file]
The battle lasted for several hours during which Asor and his men sustained heavy casualties and killed at least 40 Hizbullah guerrillas, some in gunbattles at point-blank range. Then the evacuation of the wounded began, which lasted six hours due to incessant enemy fire. Four IAF helicopter pilots risked their lives by landing in enemy territory.
Men from the Golani's elite reconnaissance unit and from Battalion 51 carried stretchers with their wounded comrades for three kilometers to the helicopters, which landed for just under one minute at a time beneath a cover of smoke grenades and massive artillery fire before taking off to evacuate the wounded to Israeli hospitals.
Meanwhile at the Golani Brigade's command center, emotions ran high as word came in of the fierce gunbattle and the heavy casualties. Soldiers ran back and forth with maps and officers screamed into encrypted cellular phones coordinating the evacuation of the wounded.
At one point, Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsh, commander of Division 91, stepped out of the command center to update Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz. "We can't land the helicopters," he said. "The fighting is too intense."
On Tuesday, things in the town had looked entirely different. The IDF, senior officers announced matter-of-factly, had it surrounded and were in control of the town. "The town is in our control," Hirsh said Tuesday. "The work is almost completed and the terrorists are fleeing." Some terrorists, however, seem to have remained, with deadly results.
The Golani's fight didn't end the combat Bint Jbail. Wednesday evening, after the IDF had once again declared it had secured the town, a Paratrooper force nearby was hit by a Sagger antitank missile.
One officer was killed and three soldiers were wounded in the attack and in the gunfight that ensued.
A high-ranking source in the Northern Command told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday that Bint Jbail could not be attacked by air since there were still several hundred civilians there. The officer said that the fighting in the town would continue at least for a day or two.
OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam said that the war in Lebanon would continue for several more weeks.
"There will unfortunately be more days like this," Adam told reporters. "We need to achieve our goal to completely overcome Hizbullah."
Meanwhile Wednesday, IAF warplanes destroyed the offices of Hizbullah's south Lebanon commander in Tyre, security officials and witnesses said. The building was empty but 12 people nearby were wounded. The two explosions in the center of the city raised a giant pall of smoke over the port city and electricity was knocked out in some areas. The target was a seven-story building housing the office of Sheikh Nabil Kaouk, the Hizbullah commander in south Lebanon.
