The Battle of Bint Jbeil was one of the main battles of the 2006 Lebanon War. Bint Jbeil is a major town of some 20,000 (mainly Shia) inhabitants in Southern Lebanon. Although Brigadier General Gal Hirsch announced on 25 July 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 Hezbollah until the end of the war. The town was the scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, with both sides taking heavy losses. Three senior Israeli officers, including Major Roi Klein, were killed in the battle. Hezbollah similarly lost several commanders, most notably Khalid Bazzi, commander of the Bint Jbeil area.
Background
Bint Jbeil was a major center for the Lebanese resistance during the previous 18 years of Israeli occupation. Following Israel's withdrawal from South Lebanon in 2000, the town became an important base for Hezbollah. After the Israeli withdrawal, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah held his victory speech in Bint Jbeil in front of a jubilant audience of more than 100,000 people (including Muslims and Christians) where he belittled Israeli power:
The spider's web (Arabic: بيت العنكبوت, bayt al-'ankabout). lit. "the house of the spider"), has a special significance in Islam. In Ayah 29:41 of the Quran, the unbelievers' choice of other protectors than God, is compared to the spider's choice of nest: "the weakest nest of all, is the spider's web".
According to Israeli journalist Amir Rapaport, Nasrallah's 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.
According to IDF estimates Bint Jbeil and the nearby town of Aynata was defended by 100-140 fighters, about 60 of whom belonged to the local garrison and around 40 belonged to the Hezbollah Special Force. The primary aim of the Hezbollah forces in the string of positions along the border was not to hold territory but to bleed the Israelis and slow down their advance.
Operation Webs of Steel 2 (23–29 July)
Initially, Israel had no intention of capturing Bint Jbeil. Rather, the IDF sought to control the city from outside. Brig.-Gen. Shuky Shachrur, the Northern Command's chief of staff, said the plan was to raid specific targets based on intelligence. Brig.-Gen. 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".
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 Hezbollah surrender here was hoped to create a "ripple effect" on the other strongholds in South Lebanon.
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 Hezbollah positions in it. Brig.-Gen. 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 Webs of Steel" (Hebrew: מבצע קורי פלדה).
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 Maglan at Maroun ar-Ras, Israeli forces were not allowed to advance in daylight. The northern side of Bint Jbeil was intentionally left open, apparently to provide an escape route for the town's defenders. Instead, Hezbollah used the opportunity to send in reinforcements to the town. According to the orders issued by the IDF Northern Command on 22 July, the IDF was not to enter Bint Jbeil. The town was to be encircled but not occupied.
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 25 July. According to the officer, IDF cannons could make direct hits on houses and cause "more damage" than Katyusha rockets.
According to Time magazine, over 5,000 Israeli troops participated in the siege of Bint Jbeil by 25 July, while the number of Hezbollah defenders of the town was estimated at "over 100".
The ground battle for Bint Jbeil started on 24 July when Israeli forces approached the nearby town of Aynata from the east and approached the Sadr district. Five members of the Golani Brigade were wounded by friendly fire, and two tanks were sent to evacuate them. The first tank 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. Altogether the IDF lost 2 killed and 18 wounded in the clashes. Five Hezbollah 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.
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. Hezbollah claimed to have shot down the helicopter. 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 caused the crash did not originate from the manufacturing process.
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 25 July. "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."
The soldiers of the Golani Brigade's 51st Battalion were ordered to enter Bint Jbeil. 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 26 July the orders were suddenly changed. Now the battalion was ordered to sweep into Bint Jbeil and conquer it.
The Golani Brigade's 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. Because of topographical reasons, he frequently lost contact with his men in Lebanon. Battalion commander Lt.-Col. Yaniv Asor commanded the first company of the 51st battalion, while his deputy, Maj. Roi Klein, commanded the third company. Both companies consisted of approximately 100 soldiers.
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 refer to this battle as "the battle of Aynata" as the Israeli forces had not yet entered Bint Jbeil proper. The olive grove in southern Aynata where the clash occurred was later renamed "Liberation square" (Arabic: مربع التحرير). The southern section of Aynata was defended by two squads [majmu’a]. A Hezbollah squad would normally include 7-10 fighters.
IDF platoon commander Merchavia and two of his men were killed immediately as they entered the olive grove surrounded by high wall. One Hezbollah 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.
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. The only soldier who witnessed the episode, Sgt. Shimon Adega, was killed shortly afterward. Klein was later killed by a second grenade. 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. The 51st battalion seemed to be on the verge of breaking.
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 Hezbollah 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. 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."
After evacuating their dead and wounded, the Israelis withdrew from their positions in Aynata, claiming to have "completed operations".
The 51st battalion suffered 8 dead, including three officers, and 22 wounded in the fighting in Aynata. The 12th battalion had another five wounded. 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. Hezbollah also suffered casualties in the battle. The IDF released widely different estimates of the number of Hezbollah killed in the battle, from 15 or "at least 20" to "at least 40" or "close to 50" The Lebanese daily as-Safir, which was sympathetic to Hezbollah, wrote a year later that only four Hezbollah fighters died in the clash in the olive grove, and named them as Amir Fadlallah, Ali as-Sayid, Mahmoud Khanafir and Atif al-Mousawi.
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.
The IDF claimed that the paratroopers took part in a major engagement on 29 July. According to the commander of the paratroopers, the fighting began when two Hezbollah fighters were killed while approaching a building occupied by the paratroopers. Then, at least seven Hezbollah 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 Hezbollah fighters were killed, and put its own casualties at 6 wounded, one of them seriously.