Israeli forces close in on key Hizbollah stronghold

JERUSALEM, July 25 (Reuters) Israeli forces battled to take over a second Hizbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon today and an Israeli commander estimated at least 20 guerrillas had been killed in the fighting.

Calling Bint Jbeil a major Hizbollah centre, Israel's army said tanks and troops had sealed off the town and were engaged in sporadic firefights with the hold-outs.

''The intention is not to occupy Bint Jbeil, it's a limited operation,'' Brigadier-General Ido Nehushtan told Reuters. ''In the last 24 hours we killed roughly 20 to 30 terrorists.'' Hizbollah said 10 of its fighters had been killed over the past day, but did not say where. The group said in a statement that fighting with Israeli forces continued on Bint Jbeil's outskirts and in 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 by the crossfire.

Al Jazeera television said four Israeli soldiers were wounded in today's clashes. The army did not comment on fresh casualties, but has said two tank crewmen were killed in Bint Jbeil yesterday and several 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 cross-border raid. At least 413 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 42 Israelis have been killed since the war began.

''Bint Jbeil was basically the main Hizbollah outpost, even a symbol,'' Major-General Yiftach Ron-Tal told Israel Radio.

''WORST DREAMS'' ''I think this has an important impact on morale,'' Ron-Tal said.

''In Hizbollah's worst dreams it never expected the Israeli Defence Forces to enter Bint Jbeil and take it over during this campaign.'' Israel lost seven army commandos last week in capturing Maroun al-Ras, a nearby Hizbollah stronghold which Israel says had served as a staging ground for attempted infiltrations of Israeli border villages and cross-border rocket launches.

According to Israeli intelligence estimates, the Hizbollah fighters are holed up in a network of tunnels and trenches around Shi'ite Muslim villages in southern Lebanon. Israel ordered civilians out of 14 of the villages over the weekend.

Ron-Tal said that if Israeli forces assumed full control of Bint Jbeil, they would effectively split southern Lebanon -- the heartland of the Iranian-backed Shi'ite guerrilla group.

Located some 4 km from the Israeli border, Bint Jbeil was first conquered by Israel during a 1972 assault on Palestinian refugee guerrillas. It was retaken six years later, when Israel launched a major push against the Palestinians.

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