Battle of Bint Jbeil : Bint Jbeil Batlle
The Battle of Bint Jbeil was one of the main battles of the 2006 Lebanon War. Bint Jbeil (Arabic: بنت جبيل, Bint Jubayl) is a major town of some 20,000 (mainly Shia) inhabitants in Southern Lebanon. Although Brigadier-General Gal Hirsch announced on July 25 that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had "complete control" of Bint Jbeil, this statement was later discredited. In spite of three sustained attempts by the IDF to conquer the town, it remained in the hands of Hizbullah until the end of the war.[12] The town was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, with both sides taking heavy losses. Two senior Israeli officers, including Major Roi Klein, were killed in the battle. Hizbullah similarly lost several commanders, most notably Khalid Bazzi, commander of the Bint Jbeil area.
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[hide]Background[edit]
Bint Jbeil was a major center for the Lebanese resistance during the 18 years of Israeli occupation. Following Israel's withdrawal from Bint Jbeil in 2000 the town became an important base for Hizbullah. Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah held his victory speech in Bint Jbeil after the Israeli withdrawal, in front of a joyful audience of more than 100 000 people, Muslims and Christians, where he belittled Israeli power:[13]
- "Barak is today calling on Lebanon to consider the withdrawal as a token of peace. This is treachery. He left having no other option... Barak still holds our prisoners in his jails, occupies territory dear to us - namely the Shebaa Farms... every prisoner in Israeli jails will soon, God willing, be back home among you. Barak and his government have no choice: I advice him to leave the Shebaa farms... he has no other choice... I tell you: the Israel that owns nuclear weapons and has the strongest air force in the region is weaker than a spider's web."[14]
According to Israeli journalist Amir Rapaport this speech infuriated the IDF Command which over time developed a "cobwebs complex". The 2006 Lebanon war finally presented an opportunity to get even. Senior IDF officers, such as Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and Chief of Operations Gadi Eisenkot claimed that Bint Jbeil was an important "symbol". They hoped to capture the town and bring an Israeli leader to hold a victory speech at the same place where Nasrallah held his speech in 2000. Instead, according to Rapaport, Bint Jbeil would come to symbolize failure.[2][15]
According to IDF estimates Bint Jbeil and the nearby village of Aynata was defended by 100-140 fighters, about 60 of whom belonged to the local garrison and around 40 belonged to the Hizbullah Special Force.[3][16] The primary aim of the Hizbullah forces in the string of positions along the border was not to hold territory but to bleed the Israelis and slow down their advance.[17]
Operation Webs of Steel 2 (July 23–29)
Initially, Israel had no intention to capture Bint Jbeil. Rather, the IDF sought to control the city from outside. Brigadier General Shuky Shachrur, the Northern Command’s chief of staff, said the plan was to raid specific targets based on intelligence. Brigadier General Gal Hirsch told a Table News Network correspondent that "We can direct precise fire at every point that is needed [within the town] and bring the forces to a situation of minimum risk".[18]
However, as the war went on, the Israeli leadership changed its position on Bint Jbeil. Despite the claims of progress there was "nothing tangible to put on display" to show for it, and a clear victory at Bint Jbeil could well be the watershed in the war. A Hizbullah surrender here was hoped to create a "ripple effect" on the other strongholds in South Lebanon.[19]
The IDF, however, was divided over exactly how to deal with the town. Some proposed an outright occupation of the town while others a more subtle approach, surrounding it and raiding Hizbullah positions in it. Brigadier General Gal Hirsch of the 91st Division wanted to conquer Bint Jbeil, not just to raid it. It was his division headquarters that came up with the name "Operation Web of Steel" (Hebrew: מבצע קורי פלדה).[20]
The operation was planned as a pincer movement with the Golani Brigade approaching the town from the east and the Paratroopers Brigade from the west. The paratroopers however set out too late and were ordered to halt before reaching their designated positions. Since the painful experiences of the Egoz unit at Maroun ar-Ras, Israeli forces were not allowed to advance in daylight. The northern side of the town was intentionally left open, apparently to provide an escape route for the town's defenders. Instead Hizbullah used the opportunity to send in reinforcements to the town.[2] According to the orders issued by the IDF Northern Command on July 22, the IDF should not enter Bint Jbeil. The town was to be encircled but not occupied.[21]
The Israeli advance was preceded by a massive artillery bombardment. An IDF artillery officer, Lt.-Col. Avi Mano, claimed that Bint Jbeil had been hit by 3,000 shells by July 25. According to the officer, IDF cannons could make direct hits on houses and cause "more damage" than Katyusha rockets.[22]
According to Time magazine over 5,000 Israeli soldiers participated in the siege of Bint Jbeil by July 25 while the number of Hizbullah defenders of the town was estimated to "over 100".[23]
The battle for Bint Jbeil started on July 24 when Israeli forces approached the nearby town of Aynata from the east and approached the Sadr district. Five Golani soldiers were wounded by friendly fire, and two tanks were sent to evacuate them. The first was hit by a missile, killing the platoon commander and wounding two of the crewmen. The second tank, a Merkava IV, ran over a powerful remote-controlled mine and rolled over from the blast. One of the crew was killed and the commander of the 52nd battalion, Lt.-Col. Guy Kabili, as well as his deputy, was wounded. An armor-plated D-9 bulldozer that attempted to rescue the casualties was forced to retreat after being hit by a missile. The wounded were finally evacuated under the cover of a smoke-screen.[2] Altogether 18 soldiers were wounded in the clashes.[24] Five Hizbullah fighters were also killed during the fighting. One of them, Marwan Samahat, was killed in the clashes in eastern Aynata. Another four fighters were killed in southern Bint Jbeil, near the Maslakh mosque.[10]
An Apache Longbow attack helicopter flying support mission for ground forces at Bint Jbeil crashed on the same day on the Israeli side of the border, killing both pilots. IAF at first believed that the helicopter accidentally was hit by Israeli MLRS artillery fire.[25] Hizbullah claimed to have shot down the helicopter.[26] An IAF crash investigation team later said that the crash was caused by a "rare technical fault". Investigators from Boeing, the helicopter's manufacturer, however, disagree with the IAF's findings. Boeing claims that the technical fault that causeed the crash did not originate from the manufacturing process.[27]
By the next day the IDF had taken up positions east, west and south of Bint Jbeil and Aynata but had not yet entered the built-up areas. In spite of this Gen. Hirsch declared victory to the press. "The town is in our control," he declared on July 25. "The work is almost completed and the terrorists are fleeing." The statement would quickly prove disastrously wrong. An Israeli soldier would later describe his feelings when hearing Hirsch's words over the radio, while being under Sagger missile attack "from every direction" in the town: "you realize something is wrong."[28]
The soldiers Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion were ordered to enter Bint Jbeil.[2] They set out from Avivim and after a night-time march over the Maroun ar-Ras hill reached the southern outskirts of Aynata. In the early hours of the morning on July 26 the orders were suddenly changed. Now the battalion was ordered to sweep into the Bint Jbeil and conquer it.[29]
The Golani brigade commander Col. Tamir Yedai did not leave Israeli territory but remote-controlled the battle from kibbutz Malkia, the civilian settlement where the Golani brigade had established its wartime command post.[30] Because of topographical reasons he frequently lost contact with his men in Lebanon. Battalion commander Lt.-Col. Yaniv Asor commanded the first company while his deputy, Maj. Roi Klein commanded the third company.[2]
The third company walked into a well-prepared ambush in the outskirts of Aynata, the town immediately to the east of Bint jbeil. Lebanese accounts of this battle refer to it as "the battle of Aynata" as the Israeli forces had not yet entered Bint Jbeil proper. The olive grove where the clash occurred was later renamed "Liberation square" (Arabic: مربع التØرير). The southern section of Aynata was defended by two squads [majmu’a].[10] A Hizbullah squad would normally include 7 – 10 fighters.[31]
Platoon commander Merchavia and two of his men were killed immediately as they entered the olive grove surrounded by high wall. One Hizbullah unit attacked the Israeli force in the grove while a second unit fired at the reinforcements from positions in the upper stories of buildings with small arms and anti-tank rockets. Most of the soldiers from the platoon that entered the olive grove were eventually killed or wounded.[32]
The battalion's deputy commander, Major Roi Klein was seriously wounded when he reportedly covered a hand grenade with his body to save his troops.[33] The only soldier who witnessed the episode, Sgt. Shimon Adega, was killed shortly afterward.[34] Klein was later killed by a second grenade.[35] Then the company commander was injured and his deputy was killed. Lt. Itamar Katz, who did not know the names of his men, took over command. 25 immobile wounded lay in the orchard screaming for help. The men were defended for several hours almost single-handed by a lone fighter, Shiran Amsilli.[36] The 51st battalion seemed to be on the verge of breaking.[34][35]
The battalion did not break but the fighting changed drastically from an offensive military operation to a rescue mission. The IDF sent in reinforcements to provide covering fire while the casualties were evacuated. The troops that arrived as reinforcements suffered lower casualties compared to the first wave. Soldiers often risked their lives not only to save the wounded, but to recover the dead and prevent Hizbullah fighters from reaching their bodies. Combat continued for several hours, and was often conducted at point-blank range. The wounded were carried three kilometers to a place where helicopters could land under the protection of smoke grenades and heavy artillery fire, and soldiers often simultaneously shot at enemy fighters while carrying stretchers.[37] Finally, Israeli Air Force Blackhawk helicopters managed to land under heavy fire and fly the wounded to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. The commanders decided not to risk pilots to evacuate the dead; they were carried out under cover of darkness by a company from the Golani Brigade's 12th Battalion."[38][39]
The IDF suffered 8 dead, including three officers, and 24 wounded in the fighting in Aynata. On the same day an anti-tank missile fired from Bint Jbeil, hit a paratrooper position in nearby Maroun al-Ras and one officer was killed and three soldiers were wounded. Hizbullah also suffered casualties in the battle. The IDF released widely different estimates of the number of Hizbullah killed in the battle, from 15[40][41][42] or "at least 20"[43][44] to "at least 40"[45] or "close to 50"[46] The Lebanese daily as-Safir, which was closely linked to Hizbullah, wrote a year later that only four Hizbullah fighters died in the clash in the olive grove, and named them as Amir Fadlallah, Ali as-Sayid, Mahmoud Khanafir and Atif al-Mousawi.[10]
The following night Israeli paratroopers infiltrated Bint Jbeil from the west and took up positions in a number of large villas in the Talat Mas’ud neighborhood overlooking the town. Sporadic clashes continued over the next days.[6] On July 28, some 40-60 Hezbollah fighters launched a counterattack against the IDF 890th Battalion, which was occupying a position named Hill 850. The counterattack was beaten off, and an estimated 20 Hezbollah fighters were killed.[47]
The IDF claimed that the paratroopers took part in a major engagement on July 29. According to the commander of the paratroopers, the fighting began when two Hizbullah fighters were killed while approaching a building occupied by the paratroopers. Then, at least seven Hizbullah cells attacked the soldiers, employing anti-tank rockets and RPGs. The paratroopers repulsed the attack, and received air support during the battle. The paratrooper commander claimed that "our forces were well prepared and gunned down cell after cell. We saw them falling". The IDF claimed that 20 or 26 Hizbullah fighters were killed, and put its own casualties at 6 wounded, one of them seriously.[48][49]
Lebanese accounts of the battle do not mention this clash and do not confirm any Hizbullah casualties in Bint Jbeil on this date. Lebanese daily as-Safir reported that a Hizbullah reconnaissance squad attacked IDF positions in Tallat Mas’oud on July 28, prompting an overnight Israeli withdrawal from the district.[6]
Also on July 29, two Hizbullah commanders and a third fighter who was accompanying them were killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Old City of Bint Jbeil. The house they were occupying collapsed after being bombed, killing all three of them. The two commanders were identified as Khalid Bazzi (al-Hajj Qasim) and Muhammad Abu Ta'am. Bazzi was chief of operations in the Bint Jbeil area, including Maroun al-Ras, Aynata, Aytaroun and Bint Jbeil, while Abu Ta'am was responsible for the town itself. Both had taken part in the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers that had started the war.[50]
There are suggestions that Bazzi earlier had refused to obey orders to withdraw from the town saying that he would "only leave as a martyr".[51] Hizbullah commanders who spoke to Lebanese al-Akhbar a year after the war did not confirm this version of events. According to them the proper place for a commander was with his fighters on the battlefield. Bazzi and Abu Taam however were criticized for violating military regulations by being at the same place during a battle.[6][50] The IDF had earlier claimed that Bazzi was killed in Maroun al-Ras several days earlier.[52] Bazzi was succeeded by Muhammad Qansuh (Sajid ad-Duwayr), a special force commander who in turn would be killed by an Israeli airstrike 10 days later.[53][54]
On the same day, the IDF pulled its troops from Bint Jbeil, but armored units continued to operate around the town.[49]
Respite[edit]
On July 30 Israel launched an airstrike on a civilian building in the town of Qana, to the north of Bint Jbeil, in which 28 Lebanese civilians were killed, including 16 children. Under American pressure Israel declared a two-day suspension of air strikes on targets in southern Lebanon. Israel also agreed to allow a 24-hour “window” where the United Nations could assist locals who wanted to leave southern Lebanon.[55][56][57] Hizbullah reciprocated and suspended all its rocket attacks on northern Israel.[58]
After 19 days of continuous shelling Bint Jbeil at last experienced a lull in the fighting. Large sections of the town had been reduced to rubble and hundreds of survivors, mainly the old and infirm who had been unable to escape from the battlefield, emerged from the ruins. A convoy of ambulances from the Lebanese Red Cross arrived at the town and began evacuating the civilians. The United Nations and Hizbullah fighters also assisted in the evacuation of civilians.[59][60]
The Salah Ghandour hospital was the only hospital in the area and had been hit several times by Israeli shells. It had no fuel for its generators and was finally abandoned during the pause in the fighting. Fouad Taha, the hospital's director and only remaining physician, and the other staff helped in the evacuation of the remaining civilians before leaving the town. He had survived a direct hit on his night quarters. "We're feeling guilty leaving people behind," he said.[61]
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