The Battle of Bint Jbail

In 2000, Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon. Later, the UN Security Council called for the disarmament of Hezbollah. All the while, Hezbollah, armed by Iran and Syria, prepared for war. When war finally erupted, the soldiers of C Company of the Golani Brigade would pay the price. From the London Sunday Telegraph:

Early Wednesday morning, Dahan and 14 comrades from C Company of the Golani Brigade's 51st battalion roused themselves from the Bint Jbail house where they had dug in for an hour or two of sleep.

Slinging packs laden with ammunition over uniforms already heavy with body armour, they headed into the deserted streets.

It was expected to be a routine mission - spread out and establish control in a town decimated by artillery and air strikes.

As they moved in from the northeast, the patrol passed the empty silhouettes of two and three-storey buildings and mosques, interspersed with scrubland and olive groves. It was deadly quiet.

"The resistance had been very light from the moment we entered Lebanon,'' said 22-year-old squad leader Yoni Roth. But the enemy, which had melted away in the face of Israeli tanks in the open country, had assembled to fight a street-to-street battle on its own terms.

When the men of C Company entered a 50-metre-square olive grove, surrounded on all sides by three-storey apartment blocks, they had walked into a killing zone. "Everything was very quiet,'' Dahan said.

"But the Hezbollah were in buildings all around.'' They were also behind a wall which ran around the grove, from where the attack began.

"Grenades started coming over the wall,'' Dahan said. "One rolled right up to me and the guys next to me but I kicked it away at the last second.''

As another grenade came over the wall, the wounded soldiers say that deputy battalion commander Major Roi Klein fell on the explosive to protect his men, inscribing himself in the lore of the Golani Brigade as he lost both his legs and died.

With explosions all around, the men of C Company returned fire, but could not locate their enemies. Then small arms fire erupted from every direction, as the fighters of the "Party of God'' fired from the upper floors of surrounding buildings.

Next to Dahan, his friend, 20-year-old Yaniv Imani, fell to the ground, blinded by a piece of shrapnel.

A short way behind, a platoon from the 51st battalion's A Company were shocked to hear the gunfire. "First our officers went forward to see what was happening, but when they realized how many casualties there were, we all went in,'' said 21-year-old Staff-Sgt. Avraham Dajan. "Almost all of the first platoon had been hit, all 15.''

Some were dead. More would die in the long hours of battle before they could be evacuated. "I made a mistake,'' said Dajan. "I focused on the wounded and on trying to help them. I should have concentrated on fighting.''

Within seconds that mistake proved costly as a grenade exploded nearby, its shrapnel injuring his arm and soaking his uniform with blood. "I couldn't control my rifle any more,'' he said. Platoon medics set up an emergency field hospital on the fringe of the grove and Dajan managed to cross the 50 metrtes to get treatment.

Blinded by his wound, Imani could only listen as the battle raged. Soon his friend Dahan was felled by a bullet in his back.

Other nearby Israeli units had arrived, bringing to 60 the number of crack troops against what they estimated to be an equivalent Hezbollah force.

As the battle intensified a fierce debate raged at headquarters, with commanders loath to send attack helicopters to provide air support, for fear of flying into a second, missile-borne, trap. Eventually, however, the situation was so desperate that Cobra and Apache helicopters were sent in, tipping the battle in Israel's favour and allowing the injured to be evacuated.

Eight soldiers were killed and 22 wounded.