Eight Israeli troops killed in heavy fighting sparked by Hizballah kidnap of two Israeli soldiers under heavy rocket-mortar fire early Wednesday. Eleven civilians and soldiers injured

The two soldiers abducted by Hizballah are: Eldad Regev, 26, from Kiryat Motzkin, and Ehud Goldwasser, 31, from Nahariya. The eight soldiers killed in combat with Hizballah: Master Sgt. Eyal Benin, 22, from Beersheba; Master Sgt. Shani Turjeman, 24, from Beit Shean; 1st Sgt. Alexei Kushnirsky, 21, from Nes Ziona; Sgt. Gadi Musayev, 20, from Acre; Sgt. Yaniv Bar-On, 19, from Maccabim; Asim Salah Nazal, 25, from Kafr Yanuh; Sgt. Nimrod Cohen, 19, from Mitzpe Shalem.
Three men were killed during the abduction, four in the pursuit unit when their tank blew up. Nimrod Cohen died in rescue attempt of the tank crew.
debkafile‘s military sources: Preparations for the Hizballah kidnap operation were sighted well in advance at its border positions. The attack did not therefore come as a surprise. Nonetheless the first IDF probe conducted after the attack found that a Hizballah commando unit transferred from its Baalbek base had managed to infiltrate 200 meters in the northern border, lie in wait for two Israeli Hammer jeeps patrolling the border, and blow them up at around 0900 a.m., injuring 6 soldiers, three critically.
After long moments, medical teams arrived. The abduction was discovered more than an hour after it occurred and then the pursuit was ordered across the border into Lebanon – to no avail.
There is a strong parallel between the Hizballah kidnap operation and the Hamas attack and abduction of Gilead Shalit on June 25. The result is that Israeli is now fighting on two fronts and forced to stage incursions into two territories evacuated by its troops and used as terrorist strongholds. The Lebanese front differs from the Hamas front in Gaza in that Hizballah has arrayed its 12,000 rockets and missiles on the ready. Within their range are Israel’s northern cities from Nahariya to Haifa and Hadera in central Israel. Should the war situation escalate, Syrian military and air intervention cannot be ruled out.