"Invisible" Hizbullah Hard Catch

Israel admitted that thirty six of its troops were killed fighting die-hard Hizbullah fighters. (Reuters)

"Israel has to show it has hit or captured arms and has so far been unsuccessful," Timur Goksel, former spokesman for the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, told Reuters on Wednesday, August 2.

"They tried to do it from the air but could not find them so they are going in on the ground."

Up to 6,000 Israeli troops, with tanks and air cover, are now battling Hizbullah fighters on five fronts in south Lebanon.

But while Israel has punched through the border at various points, it has so far avoided a full-scale invasion it knows from experience could mire it in years of fighting.

Hizbullah reportedly has an estimated 2,000-3,000 well-armed and trained fighters who have shown themselves to be an organized force capable of springing surprises and inflicting casualties on Israel's forces over the past 21 days.

At least thirty-six Israeli soldiers have died in the fighting so far, according to an Israeli tally.

Jane's World Insurgency & Terrorism says Hizbullah is considered the region's most capable non-state armed group.

"Islamic Resistance guerrillas are reckoned to be amongst the most dedicated, motivated and highly trained of their kind," it said in a recent report, referring to Hizbullah's armed wing.

"The increasingly sophisticated methods used by Islamic Resistance members indicate that they are trained using Israeli and US military manuals; the emphasis of this training is on the tactics of attrition, mobility, intelligence gathering and night-time maneuvers."

Guerrilla Tactics

Israel is fighting a resistance group which, far outclassed by Israeli air power and technology, relies on its knowledge of the terrain, support from the locals and, when ground forces get involved, ambush.

A village-to-village, town-to-town campaign across the width of the border and up into Lebanon's rugged hills, battling fighters all the way, will cost Israel time and lives.

"Hizbullah are playing very smart guerrilla rules," said Goksel.

"They know they cannot challenge Israel in open combat, with its air power, so they wait until it moves deeper into Lebanon, where they know the terrain, and ambush," he added.

"That is why Israel is not going too far inside Lebanon. It has the power but it is aware of the traps."

When Hizbullah pulled out of Maroun al-Ras in the second week of the war, they booby-trapped their homes in the border village, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding three who stepped on the rooftops, a Hizbullah source said.

A Hizbullah ambush at dawn last week killed eight Israeli troops and wounded 22 in the nearby stronghold of Bint Jbeil, which Israel managed to surround but was unable to immediately capture.

Goksel said Hizbullah members fight in independent units of up to 20, making the group hard to paralyze.

"For Hizbullah, just fighting another day is a victory because this is such an asymmetrical war. They are not trying to take land, just to inflict casualties."

Raining Rockets

Hizbullah rockets continue to rain northern Israel but no fighters or launchers can be seen.

A rocket fired by Hizbullah Wednesday hit the Israeli town of Beit Shean, almost 70 km (45 miles) from the border with Lebanon, the deepest a rocket has struck inside Israel.

Hizbullah also announced Wednesday firing 300 rockets into northern Israel, while Israel only admitted that half that number was fired.

So many rockets fell on the tourist town of Tiberias, near the Sea of Galilee, that emergency workers said they were unable to reach the scene.

Other towns struck included Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya and Safed.

Sirens also sounded in Haifa, Israel's third largest city, which lies about 35 km (20 miles) from the Lebanese border, in anticipation of rocket strikes, rescue services said.

In a statement, Hizbullah said it had fired the rockets into Israel "after the enemy went too far in targeting civilians" in Lebanon.

Up to 800 Lebanese, mostly children and civilians, have been killed and thousands injured in the ongoing Israeli onslaught.

More than 60 civilians, including 32 children, were killed in an Israeli massacre in the southern village of Qana on Sunday, July 30, triggering an international outrage.

The heavy barrage refutes claims by Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert that his troops have been able to destroy most of Hizbullah's rocket capacities.

"I think Hizbullah has been disarmed by the military operation of Israel to a large degree," he told Reuters in an interview.

Hizbullah has fired more than 1,700 rockets into Israel over the past three weeks. On some days, more than 100 rockets have landed.