By Dan WilliamsJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli forces battled to take over a second Hizbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon on Tuesday in intensifying ground clashes with the guerrillas' frontier garrison, sources on both sides said.
Calling Bint Jbeil "one of the major Hizbollah centers", an Israeli military spokesman said tanks and troops had sealed off the town, killed or wounded dozens of guerrillas, and were engaged in sporadic firefights with the hold-outs.
"We are operating in the town. I can't say we are in total control of the town yet," the spokesman said.
Hizbollah confirmed that at least two of its men had been killed but said in a statement that fighting with Israeli forces continued on Bint Jbeil's outskirts and the surrounding area.
Sources in the foreign observer force UNIFIL said it was difficult to know which side controlled which parts of the town, and that some civilians were feared trapped amid the crossfire.
Al Jazeera television said four Israeli soldiers were wounded in Tuesday's clashes. The army did not comment on fresh casualties, but has said two tank crewmen were killed in Bint Jbeil on Monday while several more soldiers were wounded.
Taking Bint Jbeil could be a morale-booster for Israel, which launched a Lebanese offensive after Hizbollah killed eight soldiers and abducted two others in a July 12 border raid. Some 400 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 35 Israelis have since died.
"Bint Jbeil was basically the main Hizbollah outpost, even a symbol," Major-General Yiftach Ron-Tal told Israel Radio.