Israeli army says it killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in battle for Bint Jbeil

# Israeli army says it killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in battle for Bint Jbeil

Israel’s military said it had killed more than 100 Hezbollah fighters in and around Bint Jbeil over the past week and would have full operational control of the south Lebanese town within days, according to the supplied Al Jazeera report.

The claim came as Israeli attacks elsewhere in southern Lebanon killed at least six people, including in Bazouriyeh, Nabatiyeh El Faouqa, Sir el Gharbiyeh, Choukine and Tyre. The report says one person injured in a strike on an International Committee of the Red Cross site later died, and that several Red Cross vehicles were damaged. It also says an orchard strike in Tyre killed several more people without giving an exact number.

Bint Jbeil has long been one of the most symbolically loaded places in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict. The report notes that the town sits only 5 kilometres from the Israeli border and was central to the 2006 war. It also recalls Hassan Nasrallah’s 2000 “Liberation” speech delivered there after Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

Hezbollah said it had been fighting Israeli forces in the town for days and described the clashes as “point-blank” and later “intense.” Israel’s Arabic-language military spokesman said the 98th Division had completed the encirclement of Bint Jbeil and begun an assault. Those are the facts the source provides; battlefield claims from both sides remain unverified in the supplied evidence.

The report places the fighting against a diplomatic backdrop as well. Israeli and Lebanese officials were scheduled to hold talks in Washington to discuss ending the war, while Lebanon’s culture minister said the immediate goal was to stop shelling and bombardment before any broader peace process.

That mix of battlefield escalation and diplomacy is typical of the conflict’s current phase. The military pressure around Bint Jbeil seems designed to create leverage, while the talks suggest an effort to prevent the border war from expanding further.

The supplied report also says Israel has killed at least 2,055 people in Lebanon since expanding its offensive on March 2, with more than 6,550 injured. Those figures underline the scale of the war, but the specific new claim here is the Israeli army’s assertion that it has inflicted heavy losses on Hezbollah in Bint Jbeil.

For now, the story is one of contested control. Israel says it is close to taking Bint Jbeil and that it has killed more than 100 fighters there. Hezbollah says it is still fighting. Civilians elsewhere in the south continue to pay the price while the two sides argue over the military picture.