The Battalion 52 commander was killed when an anti-tank missile hit the Merkava tank he was in. The officer, First Lieutenant Lotan Slavin of Moshav Hatzava, age 21, was killed instantly.
Staff Sergeant Kobi Smilag of Rehovot, age 20, was killed when his tank ran over a landmine. The families of the fallen soldiers have been notified. Some 18 other soldiers were wounded in the firefight.
IDF forces captured the town late Monday night.
Troops from the Golani Brigade, armored corps and paratroopers fought battles that raged all day as the operation to clean out the terrorist nest continued, with another five hurt by friendly fire from the Israel Air Force.
Hizbullah does not release information about its casualties, but IDF officials estimated that at least 10 terrorists were killed in the fighting.
Soldiers took over a hilltop looking over Bint Jbil on Monday after heavy fighting earlier in the day. Infantry soldiers entered the area to support the initial attacking force after troops were injured.
Also on Monday, IDF officials said the army had captured two Hizbullah fighters. The officers requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. No further details were available and the IDF refused comment.
The IDF also took control of the village of Maroun a-Ras after a fierce 48-hour battle to force Hizbullah terrorists out of the area on Sunday.
IDF Operations Branch Head, Major General Gadi Eisenkot said Monday evening that fighter pilots had flown some 800 sorties over enemy territory since the fighting began 12 days ago, with some 4,500 IDF soldiers fighting battles on the ground.
Eisenkot emphasized that Hizbullah had developed a complex and large infrastructure, and amassed a huge arsenal, network of bunkers and numerous weapons caches, and that it would take time to destroy them. “The operation we saw in Bint Jbil will be seen in other places as well,” he said. “We are working according to the plan with the objective of entering the village and cleansing it of terrorists.”
Eisenkot said, “In the operations, we take control of an area for a limited amount of time, then leave it.” He added that the Israel Navy is continuing to enforce a coastal blockade and destroy Mediterranean targets, while the Israel Air Force is providing cover for IDF ground troops.
He added that the campaign would take another few weeks and that the Israeli people would need patience to allow the IDF to dismantle the Hizbullah terrorist infrastructure and eliminate the threat from south Lebanon.
Staff Sergeant Kobi Smilag of Rehovot, age 20, was killed when his tank ran over a landmine. The families of the fallen soldiers have been notified. Some 18 other soldiers were wounded in the firefight.
IDF forces captured the town late Monday night.
Troops from the Golani Brigade, armored corps and paratroopers fought battles that raged all day as the operation to clean out the terrorist nest continued, with another five hurt by friendly fire from the Israel Air Force.
Hizbullah does not release information about its casualties, but IDF officials estimated that at least 10 terrorists were killed in the fighting.
Soldiers took over a hilltop looking over Bint Jbil on Monday after heavy fighting earlier in the day. Infantry soldiers entered the area to support the initial attacking force after troops were injured.
Also on Monday, IDF officials said the army had captured two Hizbullah fighters. The officers requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters. No further details were available and the IDF refused comment.
The IDF also took control of the village of Maroun a-Ras after a fierce 48-hour battle to force Hizbullah terrorists out of the area on Sunday.
IDF Operations Branch Head, Major General Gadi Eisenkot said Monday evening that fighter pilots had flown some 800 sorties over enemy territory since the fighting began 12 days ago, with some 4,500 IDF soldiers fighting battles on the ground.
Eisenkot emphasized that Hizbullah had developed a complex and large infrastructure, and amassed a huge arsenal, network of bunkers and numerous weapons caches, and that it would take time to destroy them. “The operation we saw in Bint Jbil will be seen in other places as well,” he said. “We are working according to the plan with the objective of entering the village and cleansing it of terrorists.”
Eisenkot said, “In the operations, we take control of an area for a limited amount of time, then leave it.” He added that the Israel Navy is continuing to enforce a coastal blockade and destroy Mediterranean targets, while the Israel Air Force is providing cover for IDF ground troops.
He added that the campaign would take another few weeks and that the Israeli people would need patience to allow the IDF to dismantle the Hizbullah terrorist infrastructure and eliminate the threat from south Lebanon.