I’m at a deserted crossroads in the middle of a featureless farming area, with a Hizbollah guide and some local Bedouin agricultural workers. They fill me in on what happened. It seems that on Thursday night some suspicious helicopter activity was heard in the hills behind the crossing. Shortly afterwards 2 jeeps approached over the hill packed with men wearing Lebanese army uniforms. They were challenged by 3 Hizbollah fighters and tried to bluff their way through, using what one of the Bedouins described as the worst attempt at a Lebanese accent they had ever heard. They claimed to have orders to set up a checkpoint. It obviously had not occurred to the Israelis that no Lebanese army troops move in the south without first notifying Hizbollah. Despite being outnumbered by at least 3 to 1, the resistance fighters responded by opening fire, killing the Israeli commander and wounding 3 others. The only thing that prevented the killing or capture of all the commandos was a hastily arranged bombing mission to cover their tracks as they fled.

The most likely explanation of this operation was that the Israelis were hoping to use their checkpoint to kidnap some Hizbollah fighters or leaders, to exchange for their own prisoners. They also seem desperate to provoke Hizbollah into breaking the ceasefire. If the operation had worked, the Israeli military would finally have had a tiny victory to celebrate. The opposite has been achieved.

This is the latest in a string of humiliations for Israel’s once feared commando forces. Previously they have been beaten back from many locations, including a coastal observation post and a nearby farmhouse. They did however manage to capture Hassan Nassrallah in a raid on a hospital a few weeks ago. The Mr Nassrallah in question was a local shopkeeper and not the Hizbollah leader (of the same name), suggesting that Israeli intelligence are relying on the local phone book.

A few miles down the road I am shown a hospital where another commando raid ended in disaster for the not so Special Forces. It is thought that they were hoping to kidnap some wounded Hizbollah fighters from their hospital beds. This time they were beaten back by local communists, who engaged them in a seven hour firefight, wounding several of the invaders. The battle was extended because one of the reds managed to hit the blades of the Israeli Helicopter. This meant the commandos were trapped there for hours while it was repaired. They really are crap at this.

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