Did the IDF take it on the chin in Bint Jbail?
You’d expect a pompous blowhard like Hezbollah’s leader Nasrallah to declare victory in Bint Jbail no matter what, but events over the past few days suggest that Hezbollah at a minimum fought the IDF to a draw in the Shiite militia stronghold. The IDF has mostly pulled out of the village after declaring the mission completed, leaving behind a small force said to be in control. Here’s how Jerusalem Post sums up the fierce fighting in Bint Jbail:
Infantrymen from the Golani and Paratroopers Brigades killed at least 50 Hizbullah gunmen and wounded hundreds more during fierce gunbattles in Bint Jbail over the weekend. Most of the wounded were from Hizbullah’s special forces and had come to reinforce the regular Hizbullah guerrillas in the village. Soldiers confiscated dozens of handguns and rifles, as well as ammunition, grenades, mines, and five anti-tank missiles there.
But in control is what the IDF claimed to be of Bint Jbail early last week, before a well-planned Hezbollah ambush killed eight soldiers from the Golani Brigade. More fighting took place in the town after that clash, costing the Israelis additional casualties. So I’m a little bit sceptical when the IDF says it now has control of the village. Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t.
Which is not to say that the Israeli soldiers have turned into a bunch of clowns. Far from it. Here’s from the same article:
As Battalion 890 of the Paratroopers Brigade began to pull out of Bint Jbail, Military Intelligence personnel using an unmanned aerial vehicle spotted a group of Hizbullah terrorists on motorcycles on their way to set up an ambush for the withdrawing troops.
IDF troops deployed accordingly and engaged the enemy force, killing 26 guerrillas. Seven soldiers were wounded, including one seriously.
From that description it almost sounds as if IDF narrowly escaped another bloody set back: It’s not difficult to imagine a chain of events that would have allowed the Hezbollah to deploy their ambush unmolested. I wonder how far the Hezbollah fighters travelled before they were detected? The incident suggests that the Israeli’s have yet to discourage its enemy from moving company-sized units in southern Lebanon.
Keep in mind that wars often are affairs of attrition: Hezbollah could well put up a heck of a fight on the ground for two weeks and then collapse within 48 hours when it runs critically low on men, supplies, and equipment. That’s why it’s important that the IDF continues its offensive even it’s rough goings at this stage.
The other side of that coin is that at some point Nasrallah must decide whether he should pull his forces out of the contested area or expose them to further degradation. It will be interesting to see how the battle unfolds over the next seven days.
