TEHRAN - Heavy fighting has taken place on the Lebanese border between Hezbollah and Israeli infantry units. 

The Israeli occupation forces (IOF) have launched another attempt to take control of the strategic Lebanese border town of Khiam. 

Reports say the IOF intensified artillery shelling on the outskirts of three neighborhoods to provide cover for the movement of a convoy of Merkava tanks heading toward the Khiam plains and the eastern and southern outskirts of the town of Khiam.

Yet the advance of the convoy is said to have been extremely slow after Hezbollah repeatedly waged rocket attacks on gatherings of the IOF troops. Stormy weather conditions are also believed to have slowed the movement of the occupation forces. 

A number of statements issued by the Lebanese resistance movement between Sunday night and Monday morning said Hezbollah fighters fired rocket barrages at the IOF in the vicinity of Khiam. 

Hezbollah said it targeted eleven gatherings and movements of Israeli soldiers and vehicles at settlements across the border and forces attempting to infiltrate the border/advance in south Lebanon (including south of Khiam) using rockets and artillery shells, causing injuries and deaths.

On Monday, Hezbollah published another four statements announcing that it was firing rockets at Israeli army soldiers “south of Khiam”.

A fifth statement issued by the resistance movement later in the day stated its “fighters targeted a gathering of the Israeli enemy forces east of the town of Khiam”.

According to reporters on the ground, the IOF has not been able to take control of the town amid heavy fighting that included combat at very close range. 

“Israeli occupation forces are suffering heavy losses in the ongoing battle for Khiam.”Reports also surfaced on Monday that the IOF was forced to retreat into the southern Lebanese village of Shamaa after the resistance fighters effectively blocked their advance.

Analysts say the resistance movement is setting up a strategic shift with subtle but powerful moves that could have deadly implications for the invading forces.  

Reporters on the ground in southern Lebanon say the IOF has failed to achieve any progress in all three directions it has tried to invade the south and ambushed in Shamaa and suffered heavy losses. 

The Lebanese resistance movement is defending the south from invasion while keeping firing rockets, missiles, and drones into the Israeli depths.
As Hezbollah fighters confront elite IOF infantry units, they continued to rain down rockets on Israeli settlements on Monday including Gornot HaGalil, Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya and Margaliot, according to the resistance and Hebrew media. 

Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced it has targeted “the Israeli Shraga base (the administrative headquarters of the Golani Brigade) north of the occupied city of Akka with a rocket barrage.”

Israeli army radio reported that the IOF “has begun removing military barriers in the settlements near and adjacent to the Lebanese border, and it is expected to withdraw its forces from them in the coming days.” 

Experts say the report is an acknowledgment of what Hezbollah has confirmed about targeting military gatherings inside those settlements, which the IOF has turned into military barracks.

Hezbollah also said on Monday that it “targeted a gathering of the Israeli enemy forces at the newly established headquarters of the Western Brigade in the Ya'ra barracks, hitting their targets accurately”. 

Meanwhile, two Lebanese Army soldiers were killed and three others injured, one critically, as a result of an Israeli attack on an army center in the town of al-Mari.