At least four Israeli troops killed in heavy fighting with Hizbullah fighters just inside Lebanon on Thursday, an Israeli military source said. At least one Hizbullah fighter was also killed, the source said. Israeli media reported eight soldiers had been wounded, but Qatar-based Al Jazeera television reported that three Israeli soldiers had been killed and three injured in fighting in southern Lebanon. Media reports said nine Israeli soldiers were trapped in Maroun al-Ra's village and subjected to Hizbullah heavy pounding.

The Israeli military source said the firefight took place near the northern Israeli village of Avivim, near the place where Hizbullah fighters killed two soldiers and wounded nine on Wednesday.

Earlier on Thursday three Israeli soldiers were wounded, two seriously, in firefights in the area. The army said two Hizbullah fighters were killed in that clash.

Elsewhere in the country, Israeli fighter jets staged dozens of raids on the southern city of Tyre and its surrounding. Warplanes also bombed the notorious Khiam prison which Israel and its allies in the South Lebanon Army militia used as a detention center where thousands were tortured during the Israeli 22-year occupation of the south. The National News Agency said the jail was leveled in the bombardment.

Israel's army chief said Thursday that his country would not end its offensive until its security is restored, and vowed to destroy Hizbullah's arsenal and military capabilities. "The fighting in the north ... could last much longer," Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, the army's chief of staff, said in a letter to soldiers and officers. "We are being tested at this time. Our moral strength and value will reflect on the state of Israel and its residents and on their ability to continue to stand up to the threat on the front." "We will operate for as long as necessary until security is returned to the state of Israel," he added.

© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)