Ayta ash-Sha'b, other Lebanese border villages, and Hezbollah outposts were immediately subjected to bombardment from aircraft, artillery, and attack helicopters supporting Israeli ground forces. This would continue almost daily throughout the war. On the first day the IDF declared, somewhat optimistically, that "all Hezbollah outposts along the border were destroyed."
First attempted incursion Less than two hours after the capture of the two soldiers, the IDF sent a force of tanks and armored personnel carriers across the border following a dirt track, through an olive grove called Khallat Warda, leading to Ayta ash-Sha'b. The force was ordered to capture a Hezbollah post and to take control of the exit roads from the town, in case the abducted soldiers were still there. Only 70 meters into Lebanese territory, a
Merkava heavy battle tank drove over a remote-controlled mine. The tank was destroyed and its four crewmen were killed instantly, and the mission to capture the access roads to the town was quickly abandoned. Hezbollah fire prevented the extraction of the destroyed tank and the remains of the four soldiers just inside Lebanese territory for several days. A fifth soldier was killed and two soldiers wounded in the effort. Defence Minister Amir Peretz, who watched the tank exploding live on his monitor, was stunned. It was later described as the "Zidane effect" that cemented Israel's resolve towards going to war.
Shelling and displacement of the population On the evening of 12 July, IDF Northern Command contemplated sending
paratroopers to Ayta ash-Sha'b "to conduct arrests". This was postponed because of a lack of intelligence. During the first week the fighting was limited to exchanges of fire over the border. The original Israeli plan deemed it unnecessary to occupy Lebanese territory to rid the border of Hezbollah. Israel started shelling Ayta ash-Sha'b about an hour after the
cross-border raid. Around 03.00 the following morning 13/7 the Israeli Air Force started attacking ground targets in south Lebanon. A few hours later Hizbullah retaliated by firing off rockets at targets in northern Israel. Within one hour, Israel suffered its first civilian fatality. According to Islamic Resistance commanders the fighters suffered no casualties during this period. According to an IDF sponsored study, however, IDF radar detected 156 rockets being launched from inside villages throughout South Lebanon during the war, but none from Ayta ash-Sha'b. According to Lebanese sources Hezbullah did not have artillery or rocket firing positions inside the town but used
"Nature Reserves", well-entrenched positions in the country-side, to shell IDF positions and Israeli civilian settlements. The IDF artillery used the
Nurit Radar detection system for identifying the location of incoming rockets and mortars, and rapidly fire back at the source of fire. This action had no noticeble effect on the rate of Hezbullah firing. Towards the end of the war IDF understood that the firing positions in the "Nature Reserves" were covered in bunkers with metal hatches and the launchers were only exposed at the time of firing. The great majority of the population of Ayta ash-Sha'b therefore left the town.
Decision to create a Security Zone Two weeks into the war it was clear that the Israeli strategy was not working. In late July the Israeli cabinet therefore approved "Operation Web of Steel 3" (later renamed Operation Change of Direction 8), designed to take control of a "security zone", 6–8 kilometers wide, along the border. Reserves were called up and eight brigades amassed on the Israeli-Lebanese border. On 31 July Israeli paratroopers effectively surrounded Ayta ash-Sha'b with the intention of driving out Hezbollah. They were met with fierce resistance. On the next day they advanced on the town from two directions. One company-sized unit was advancing into the eastern Abu Laban quarter. The troops were discovered by Hezbollah forces, which after several hours of fighting forced the Israelis to retreat. During this fight Hezbollah suffered its first fatality, Younis Surour. According to Hezbollah, another Lebanese fighter, Hisham as-Sayyid, was killed while pursuing the retreating Israelis. though Hezbollah claimed it only lost two fighters. Israeli injured had to be carried by their comrades, under Hezbollah fire, back to the Israeli border. It took the wounded a whole day to reach the hospital in Nahariya. The Paratroopers were originally supposed to move north the following day but because of the casualties sustained, they were ordered to remain in the vicinity of the town. Defense Minister
Amir Peretz expressed his growing frustration at the slow progress IDF was making to his senior officers: "It's infuriating – we're circling Ayta al-Shaab for the third time already."
Continued street fighting On 2 August, "harsh battles" were reported inside the town. One Israeli paratrooper was reported killed and nine wounded. On the same day, an Israeli force surrounded a house in the northern Abu Tawil section of the town. When the house was searched, two Hezbollah fighters hiding in the house were discovered and taken prisoner. Israeli media reports were still upbeat and reported that the IDF "during the day" was "set to complete its deployment" in a 5–6 kilometers wide "security zone" along the Lebanese border, all the way between
Metula and
Rosh HaNikra. On 5 August, a soldier from the Carmeli brigade was killed and several others wounded by a missile. The Brigade commander then decided to withdraw, abandoning all the positions previously captured in the town by both the Carmeli Brigade and by the Paratroopers. He was heavily criticised for this decision after the war. On 6 August, the Defense Minister again expressed his dissatisfaction over the army's inability to conquer Ayta ash-Sha'b. The orders to the IDF to quickly occupy Ayta ash-Sha'b were repeated several times over the coming days. A negotiating team that had been sent to the town to negotiate a peaceful surrender of its defenders returned empty handed on 7 August. On 10 August, the IDF claimed to have killed three Hezbollah fighters in Ayta ash-Sha'b.
Fighting spreads to Dibil and al-Qawzah Israeli forces eventually bypassed Ayta ash-Sha'b and started pushing northward towards the villages of
al-Qawzah and
Dibil, a few kilometers to the north of the town. Both of the villages were Christian and Hezbollah probably maintained a minimal presence there. The front line was thereby "extended from ash-
Shomera–
Zar’it [in Israel], over Khallat Warda [near the border] and reaching al-Qawzah and Dibil”. 9 August, a large IDF force was detected by Hezbollah scouts while advancing from al-Qawzah towards Dibil. Local headquarters were alerted and the Israeli force was subjected to artillery and mortar fire, near the Dibil public swimming pool, from positions outside Ayta ash-Sha'b. Hezbollah did not maintain artillery inside the town. An Israeli unit, belonging to the 8219th Engineering Battalion of the 551st Paratrooper Reserve Brigade, took cover in a garage on the outskirts of Dibil. The house was hit by two anti-tank missiles fired from Ayta ash-Sha'b (about 4 kilometers away) and the building collapsed. Nine soldiers were killed and 31 wounded, many of whom were buried under the ruins. Among those killed were Major Natan Yahav, the only senior IDF officer to die in the battle of Ayta ash-Sha'b. The incident was dubbed "The House of Death". Survivors later expressed bitterness at the IDF command, whose "incompetence and stupidity" contributed to the high number of casualties. "In Debel, those nine guys never even had a chance to shoot a single bullet." The casualties had to be carried on stretchers back to Israel. The same day, a
Merkava tank was hit by a missile, fired from close range in Ayta ash-Sha'b. The tank turret was blown off and the tank caught fire. Its four crewmen were killed instantly. On 9 August,
General Eizenkot had to inform the government that the army had failed to capture Ayta ash-Sha'b. Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert demanded an explanation. By the time the cease-fire took effect on the morning of 14 August, the IDF apparently had abandoned all its positions inside Ayta a-Sha'b. Blanford notes: "On the first day of the ceasefire, it was possible to reach [Aita ash-Sha'b]… which lay behind the IDF's frontline positions in Haddatha, Rashaf and Yatar without even seeing a single IDF soldier." A camera team from
al-Jazeera reached the village and interviewed a Hezbollah fighter a few hours after the ceasefire took effect. == Aftermath ==