Thursday, July 27 2006 12:06 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Beirut: Hezbollah fighters battled yesterday (July 26, 2006) to stop Israeli forces from capturing the town of Bint Jbail in the heaviest fighting of Israel's two-week offensive in Lebanon. Arab TV stations and Hezbollah said up to 17 Israeli soldiers had been killed, but Israel did not confirm.

In Jerusalem, the Israeli military said there were 30 Israeli casualties in today's fighting, but it would not say if any soldiers had been killed. Later it reported it had suffered 'several' more casualties during evening fighting in the nearby village of Maroun al-Ras.

All the casualties had been evacuated from Bint Jbail, which lies 4 kilometers north of the Israeli-Lebanese border, the military said mid-afternoon.

Al-Arabiya, a Dubai-based satellite TV channel, said 14 Israeli soldiers had been killed in what is the fourth day of fighting for control of Bint Jbail. The Qatar-based satellite TV station Al-Jazeera reported that 13 Israelis had been killed and 12 wounded in Bint Jbail.

Hezbollah's chief spokesman Hussein Rahhal said of the battle, "What I can tell you is that 13 Israelis have been burned alive in their tanks on our land."

Late afternoon, Hezbollah said its fighters ambushed and finished off a four-member Israeli intelligence unit operating between Bint Jbail and Maroun al-Ras, a border town to the southeast that Israeli forces captured over the weekend. The statement was broadcast on Al-Manar TV.

There was no immediate comment on that attack from Israel.