Hezbollah Proves a Formidable Foe [View All]

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JERUSALEM, July 26 -- After weeks of aerial bombardment and artillery fire, Israel's army finds itself in a bruising ground war just across its border against an opponent employing the classic tactics of guerrilla warfare. And so far, say soldiers, commanders and military analysts, Hezbollah has proved a more formidable force by orders of magnitude than the armed Palestinian groups in the territories.

Hezbollah gunmen killed nine Israeli soldiers and wounded 27 others Wednesday in clashes in a pair of towns two miles into southern Lebanon, the highest daily death toll for Israel's army in the 15-day war. The Hezbollah ambush inside Bint Jbeil, a town Israeli military officials said the previous day that they had seized, was at times so intense that Israeli soldiers were pinned down and could not return fire.

But Israeli military officials say they have not been surprised by Hezbollah's prowess in the cramped towns and hilly, forested terrain that the Shiite Muslim militia has controlled since Israel left southern Lebanon six years ago. Instead, many of them say, losses such as these expose the limits of a modern national army pitted against a well-schooled guerrilla force fighting amid a civilian population that largely supports its goals.

"When it comes to this kind of urban warfare, it has been like this throughout history," said Brig. Gen. Ido Nehushtan, a member of Israel's general staff. "It is the most difficult kind of warfare ever."

WaPo