Battle of Ayta ash-Shab

Battle of Ayta ash-Sha'b
Part of 2006 Lebanon War
Date 12 July – 14 August 2006 Location Ayta ash-Sha'b, Southern Lebanon Result Israel failed to capture the town
Belligerents
Israel Defense Forces	Hezbollah
Commanders and leaders
Brig.-Gen. Udi Adam, head of Northern Command Brig.-Gen. Gal Hirsch, commander of the 91st Div. Col. Ilan Atias, commander of 2nd Brigade Col. Hagai Mordechai, commander of 35th Brigade	unknown
Units involved
35th Paratroopers Brigade 101st battalion 890th battalion Nahal Brigade 2nd Infantry Brigade 847th Reserve Brigade 8219th Engineering Battalion	Local fighters
Strength
unknown	60–70 fighters (Israeli estimate)
Casualties and losses
28 killed (IDF claim) 200 killed and wounded (Hizbullah claim)	8–11 fighters killed (Lebanese claims and media estimates) 40 killed (IDF claim) 2 captured
7 Lebanese civilians killed (Lebanese sources)

35th Paratroopers Brigade

The Battle of Ayta ash-Sha'b took place during the 2006 Lebanon War, when the Israel Defense Forces and the Islamic Resistance, the armed wing of Hezbollah, fought a 33 days battle for the town of Ayta ash-Sha'b and the neighboring villages of Ramiya, al-Qawzah and Dibil in southern Lebanon. The initial phase of the battle consisted of two and a half weeks of intense bombardment by air and artillery, followed by more than two weeks of intensive fighting in and around the town. The IDF failed to capture the town and suffered relatively heavy casualties in the process.

On 12 July 2006, under the cover of mortar and rocket fire directed at Israeli communities and IDF positions, forces belonging to the Islamic Resistance launched a cross border raid into Israeli territory, killing three Israeli soldiers and abducting two, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. The abductors apparently headed for the town of Ayta ash-Sha'b, less than a kilometer from the site of the abduction.

Nir Rosen writes that Ayta ash-Sha'b was defended by approximately 100 fighters, mainly local inhabitants. Some of the defenders of the town were not members of the Islamic Resistance or even of Hizbullah. According to Andrew Exum, the majority of the fighters were not "regular Hizballah fighters". Blanford agrees that most the fighters were local residents, but that they were "no second-rate home guard. They were battle-hardened veterans,… many of them with specialist training in anti-armor missiles and sniping." According to a study supported by Israeli authorities, Hizbullah’s military infrastructure in the village consisted of 60–70 Hizbullah operatives.

Ayta ash-Sha'b and other Lebanese border villages and Hizbullah outposts were immediately subjected to bombardment from aircraft and artillery, plus 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."

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Wikipedia