Israel pulls back from flashpoint Hezbollah town

Israeli forces pulled back from positions on the outskirts of a Hezbollah stronghold town that was the scene of the deadliest battles of their advance into south Lebanon, police said Saturday.

Tanks and armored vehicles left the hills overlooking the main border town of Bint Jbeil late Friday and returned to Marun Al-Ras, which was captured by Israeli forces on July 23.

But Israeli troops in Marun Al-Ras continued to bombard Bint Jbeil, a stronghold of the Shiite militant group, as well as nearby Aitarun and Ainata with over 350 rockets, police said.

The pullback took place amid clashes which the Israeli military said left six Israeli soldiers wounded, including one in a serious condition.

Advancing Israeli forces have encountered fierce resistance from Hezbollah guerrillas since they moved across the border, stepping up their massive air and ground offensive on Lebanon.

Nine soldiers were killed in the area on July 26 in the heaviest single-day toll since the conflict began on July 12 when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a deadly cross-border raid.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said Israeli troops "have modified their deployment because of the developments on the ground in the Marun Al-Ras Bint Jbeil sector." She said military operations were underway in the area, but did not elaborate.

Israel's security cabinet decided on Thursday to step up its air war against Lebanon and call up thousands of reserve troops but also said it would restrict ground operations.

After initially vowing to destroy Hezbollah, Israel is now seeking to expel the militia from a two-kilometer (one-mile) strip along Lebanon's side of the border and occupy the zone until a mooted international force can take over.

Early Saturday, Israeli air forces renewed raids on Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, destroying a four-wheel-drive vehicle in a missile strike, the state news agency ANI said.

The driver of the vehicle escaped "miraculously" unharmed when he jumped out of the vehicle which was hit by an air-to-ground missile in the first raid on the area since early Wednesday, the agency said.

Only the burned-out wreckage was left of the vehicle after the explosion of the missile, an AFP correspondent on the scene said.

Israeli forces have repeatedly targeted cars and trucks across Lebanon since the start of the Israeli offensive on the country on July 12 when the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah captured two soldiers.

Israeli forces also bombarded from the air and the sea various regions of southern Lebanon, targeting valleys and houses, police said. There were no reports of casualties.

Early Saturday, the bodies of eight civilians, including a couple and their three children in a car hit by a missile, were found on the roads of southern Lebanon following Israeli bombardments on the region, officials said.

The bodies of three other civilians killed by shrapnel, some partly decomposed, were found on roads near Tyre, he said.

The deaths bring to 439 the number of people killed, including 368 civilians, in Lebanon by the Israeli military onslaught on the country launched after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland said Friday that more than 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since the start of the Israeli offensive, citing the Lebanese health ministry.

Rescue workers say dozens more civilians, including a large number of children, are still buried underneath the rubble of houses destroyed in Israeli air strikes around Tyre.

Hezbollah has announced the death of 32 of its fighters, including two rescue workers, while its Shiite ally Amal reported the death of six of its militants since July 12.

A total of 51 Israelis have also died in cross-border fighting, most of them soldiers.-AFP