Bloodied Israeli army pushes on into south Lebanon

Tyre, Lebanon - The Israeli army pressed on with its incursion into south Lebanon Thursday, one day after suffering its worst loss by enemy Hezbollah fighters since the ground operation was launched just over two weeks ago.

Fierce combat raged around Bint Jbeil, a militia stronghold near the border that has been fought over for four days now, and the region where nine Israeli troops were killed Wednesday.

Eight of the soldiers, including three officers, were killed in an ambush on their column of armoured vehicles in the town, according to Israel's military. The ninth died in exchanges in nearby Marun al-Ras, just three kilometres (two miles) away.

At least 25 Israeli soldiers were also wounded in the clashes.

Hezbollah, a well-organised militia that was born in the arid hills of southern Lebanon, knows the region well.

Since Israel withdrew from here six years ago, the group is believed to have dug an extensive network of bunkers and tunnels in preparation for just the sort of conflict raging today, and built up an arsenal of weapons which Israel says is supplied by Syria and Iran.

Israel -- by far the most powerful military in the Middle East -- has been surprised by the resistance it has encountered, and has been forced to adapt its strategy.

After initially vowing to destroy Hezbollah, it is now seeking to simply push the militia out of a two-kilometre strip along the Lebanese side of the border and occupy the zone until some sort of international force can take over.

In the meantime, Israel is relying on aerial firepower to weaken its enemy and cut its supply routes.

Collateral damage is high, though. So far, more than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon from air, sea and land bombardments, most of them civilians. About 29 Lebanese soldiers and police are among the dead.

On Thursday, warplanes killed a man and a woman in the southern Lebanese village of Kafra.

Although most of the 300,000 residents in the border region have fled, and Israel now considers the area exclusively to be a "military zone", some people -- too old or sick or without transport -- have stayed.

In the Bekaa Valley, east of Beirut, the Israeli air force has also been targeting any vehicles it suspects could be carrying weapons or Hezbollah fighters from neighbouring Syria.

Thursday, a policeman was killed and two civilians wounded when their car was hit near the Bekaa town of Zahleh.

An attack on a truck carrying vegetables on a mountain road linking the valley to Beirut killed its driver, an AFP photographer said.

Another person was killed when a car was hit in Rayak, near the Syrian border, an AFP reporter said.

Warplanes lobbed more than 400 missiles and bombs overnight on Khiam in the south, a security official told the state news agency ANI.

Four UN monitors were killed when their observation post in the border town was destroyed by Israeli bombardment on Tuesday.

Agence France Presse