Israeli troops battle an unbending foe

AVIVIM, Israel -- In the bloodiest day for Israeli forces since the war against Hezbollah erupted July 12, nine soldiers were killed and 25 wounded yesterday as they attempted to clear the Islamist militia from two Lebanese border towns.

Eight of the soldiers died in Bint Jbail, known among Hezbollah supporters as the capital of the resistance against Israel, when they entered the town to destroy Hezbollah facilities and were hit with explosives and gunfire, an army spokeswoman said. Fighting inside the town, which has been surrounded since Monday, continued last night.

Another soldier was killed and three were injured in the nearby town of Maroun al-Ras. Yesterday's deaths increased the number of Israeli soldiers killed in the conflict to 32.

The stiff resistance demonstrated how formidable a foe Hezbollah -- which is dedicated to Israel's destruction -- has become for the Jewish state. Bolstered by modern weapons and thousands of rockets from Iran, logistic support from Syria, guerrilla fighting skills honed during the 1982-2000 Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, and fortified bunkers and staging areas built over the last six years, the militia is mounting the most serious military challenge Israel has faced in decades.

Hezbollah rocket fire also continued unabated yesterday, with about 150 rockets from Lebanon exploding in northern Israel, wounding 31 people.

Israeli officials, ordinary soldiers, and analysts said yesterday that because of the experience of the guerrilla war of the '80s and '90s, they are not surprised at Hezbollah's stiff resistance. But many are critical of Israel's strategy so far, saying Israeli leaders wrongly believed they could batter Hezbollah so badly with airstrikes that only limited ground combat would be needed.

They say Israel now must reassess what it will take to win the conflict, and believe there must be an all-out assault on Bint Jbail and a major ground offensive to drive the militiamen from its northern border.

Israeli soldiers described the Hezbollah fighters as deeply dug-in, well-trained, and disciplined.

``In my opinion the Hezbollah fighter is much tougher than the Israeli one," said a member of the Israeli special forces who was hitchhiking yesterday from his post on the northern border to his home in the Galilee. ``I've seen them face to face, they shot at me and I at them, and I killed more than one.

``They wait for you, they ambush you on every occasion. . . . Compared to them, the Palestinians are nothing," said the soldier, who like other soldiers interviewed yesterday spoke on condition of anonymity because he was commenting without the permission of his commanders.

A reservist from an elite unit of airborne foot soldiers, who was preparing to enter combat along the northern border, said that in addition to being good shots and skillful guerrillas, Hezbollah fighters have the power of religious fervor behind them.

``Death is almost welcomed by them," he said. ``A soldier that is trained well and has religious zeal, even if his capabilities are mediocre, is a serious fighter. They are not at the level of the Israeli special forces, but their zealousness is a very important factor."

This soldier -- and most others interviewed -- said that Israel's ground troops are fully capable of dealing with Hezbollah, but that defeating the group will require house-to-house warfare, of which there has been little so far. ``We have been training for years for a scenario like this one, but we have not been deployed yet," the soldier said.

Former senior officials and analysts said that Israel's initial approach to the conflict was overly influenced by the desire to minimize casualties in the Israeli ranks, and that this approach is failing.

Ephraim Halevy , who headed the Mossad, the Israeli secret service, from 1998 to 2002, said two brigades of Israel's most-seasoned troops, both with veteran commanders, are in position to take Bint Jbail.

But he said that political and military leaders have not wanted to commit them fully because of uncertainty over whether the public would support a ground campaign likely to produce heavy casualties.

``It didn't work out," Halevy said, referring to the attempt to use limited ground forces.

Ephraim Inbar , director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University , said Israel's leaders tried to model their strategy after the NATO war against Serbia in Kosovo ``and they were wrong. You can't do it with airplanes, especially against an enemy that has been preparing for this for years.

``It is a serious situation, and no one is going to take care of it for us," Inbar said. ``The ground operation is inevitable. The longer we wait, the higher the price we'll pay."

Behind the increasing calls for a major ground offensive, analysts say, is a spreading recognition among Israeli citizens that this is a conflict Israel must win decisively, or find itself in mortal peril.

Asher Susser , director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle East and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, said there was a strong sense even before the current crisis erupted that Israel's deterrent capacity was eroding, with Hamas, another Islamist foe, regularly launching Qassam rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah stockpiling an estimated 12,000 rockets in the north.

Susser said a strong response ``was absolutely necessary to restore the credibility of Israeli deterrence" after Hezbollah staged an attack on Israeli territory and took two solders hostage.

``This war is turning out to be more difficult than we thought . . . but three or four years ago, had we started a preventive war against the Hezbollah buildup, no one would have understood" the justification for Israel's objectives ``at home or abroad," he said.

In addition to the peril Israel would be exposed to from other countries in the region if it fails to deal effectively with Hezbollah, Susser said, failing to dispatch Iran's protégés could call into question Israel's value as a strategic asset of the United States.

At the beginning of the conflict, ``We had to weigh the costs of waging a big ground campaign. Now, we are weighing the costs of not waging it. We are very close to the moment of deciding that the costs of not doing it outweigh the costs of doing it."

Hezbollah's tenacity and organization have forced that reevaluation, and also have caused Israel to change its view of this enemy that, more than any other in decades, has been able to back up with military might its vow to destroy the Jewish state.

``We no longer call them terrorists," Daniel Seaman , the director of Israel's Government Press Office, said yesterday. ``They are well-trained, and disciplined. Now we call them a terrorist army."

Charles A. Radin can be reached at radin@globe.com