An IDF soldier carries a shell amid Israeli\/Hezbollah clashes near the Lebanon\/Israeli border. Scroll down for video.<\/p>\n
Israeli occupation forces have failed to capture even a single village in southern Lebanon, despite deploying over 50,000 troops in a month-long ground invasion, the Hebrew-language newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth<\/em> has reported. The current offensive involves five divisions\u2014three times<\/a> the size of the force deployed during the failed 2006 war\u2014but has yielded no significant territorial gains.<\/p>\n The report attributes Israel\u2019s setbacks to Hezbollah\u2019s \u201ceffective tactical strategies,\u201d including layered defences and precision attacks on Israeli armoured units. Colonel Jack Neriya, a former advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, said Hezbollah fighters are allowing Israeli troops to advance before trapping them in ambushes, which has posed challenges even for \u201celite\u201d units. \u201cThis ambush tactic has created extreme challenges for Israeli forces, including elite units such as Golani and other commandos,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Hezbollah claimed it has destroyed 42 Merkava tanks<\/a>, four bulldozers, two Hummers, an armoured vehicle, and a troop carrier since the invasion began. The Lebanese resistance movement also reported over 95 Israeli soldiers killed and 900 wounded. Israeli forces have struggled to map Hezbollah positions and counter elusive drones.<\/p>\n