Israel seizes key border town
2006-07-25 08:03
Jerusalem - The Israeli army said on Tuesday it had seized a key border town in Lebanon after deadly fighting in the area with Hezbollah as its forces pushed deeper into its northern neighbour.
"Beit Jbeil is in our hands," General Alon Friedman, one of Israel's top commanders for its northern region, told army radio.
Beit Jbeil, the main town in the border region and a Hezbollah stronghold, lies north of the strategic hilltop village of Marun al-Ras, which the Israeli army captured at the weekend.
"Our aim in Beit Jbeil is to destroy the infrastructure of Hezbollah and to liquidate that organisation's terrorists in order to reduce the (rocket) attacks on the north," Friedman said.
The Israeli military said on Monday that two of its soldiers were killed in pitched battles with Shi'ite militiamen near Bint Jbeil.
Fourteen other soldiers were wounded, six reportedly hit by friendly fire.
The deaths brought to 41 - 24 servicemen and 17 civilians - the toll of Israelis killed since the crisis erupted on July 12 after Hezbollah militants captured two soldiers and killed eight others in cross-border attacks.
At least 375 people have been killed in Lebanon.