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Border town center of conflict

Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, just three miles from Israel and known as the 'capital of resistance,' has been hit hard this past week

BY MOHAMAD BAZZI | Newsday Middle East Correspondent

July 29, 2006

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Israeli troops had besieged Bint Jbeil when Nabil and Souad Hammoud finally decided to leave the southern city Monday afternoon.

The Hammouds had not been outside for days. When they went out to meet relatives who were also trying to flee, they were caught in a barrage from Israeli tanks and artillery.

A bomb landed nearby, and shrapnel hit Souad on her shoulder. She fell to the ground and her husband tried to drag her behind a stone wall. Another bomb landed and Nabil was hit by shrapnel on his face and arms. Two of his cousins were killed.

"We had to leave the bodies on the ground," Nabil, 57, said Friday after he and his 54-year-old wife were brought to a Beirut hospital. "There was no way to pick them up."

Spread out over scrubby hills filled with pine trees and olive groves, Bint Jbeil is a city of 40,000 people about three miles from the Israeli border. It has been the center of intense fighting between Hezbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops during the past week.

Since Sunday, thousands of Israeli soldiers and dozens of tanks had besieged the city and surrounding villages. On Wednesday, nine Israeli soldiers were killed in battles in and around Bint Jbeil - the highest single-day toll for Israel since fighting broke out on July 12. On Friday, Israeli forces were seen pulling back from positions around Bint Jbeil, according to Lebanese security officials. The pullback could be intended to make way for intense air bombardment of the area.

Bint Jbeil and nearby villages were occupied by Israeli troops in 1978, when Israel first tried to create a security zone in south Lebanon. The occupied area was expanded after Israel launched a full-scale invasion of Lebanon in 1982. During the 18-year guerrilla war that ensued, Bint Jbeil provided dozens of fighters to Hezbollah. It was dubbed the "capital of resistance" - and signposts in the city display that nickname.

Many of Bint Jbeil's people live in Beirut or abroad, but the city becomes packed by mid-June when residents return to spend their summer vacations. By last weekend, most people had fled the city ahead of the Israeli troops, Nabil Hammoud said. But he and his wife had stayed. "We didn't believe that the Israelis would try to invade Bint Jbeil," he said, scratching his bandaged arm.

After being injured, Nabil helped his wife up and they walked to a hospital about a half mile from their home in the old part of the city, a maze of alleyways and stone houses. But most of the hospital staff had fled. Nabil finally persuaded an orderly to put his wife in a wheelchair and push her to the next-nearest hospital - 5 miles away in the town of Tebnin.

Under a searing sun, Nabil, Souad and the orderly walked for three hours to reach Tebnin. The sound of battle in Bint Jbeil was behind them the whole time.