Remains of Israeli tank recovered
Israeli troops on October 16 recovered the remains of the Merkava tank destroyed by Hizbullah near the Dabshe position on October 15.
Several earlier attempts to retrieve the tank met with failure when the soldiers were forced to withdraw under mortar and machine gun fire from guerrillas.
Israeli artillery laid down a heavy barrage around the Dabashe position and the neighboring post of Ali Taher.
The Zahrani river crossing, the deserted barracks in Nabatieh and the Iqlim Al Tuffah were also shelled, while two helicopters raked the vicinity with machine guns. No casualties were reported.
Meanwhile, Hizbullah said it had received considerable support from public figures after October's 15 air raid against the organization's Voice of the Oppressed radio station in the Bekaa. The raid, the eighth on the station, destroyed the radio antenna but failed to interrupt broadcasts.
Baalbek-Hermel MP Ammar Musawi urged the government to lodge a complaint with the five nation monitoring committee for the attack, in which one civilian was injured.
Metn MP Nassib Lahoud condemned the air raid and described it as "an unjustified attack on a country that is only pursuing its right to liberate its territory from occupation."
Elsewhere, an Israeli investigation into the disastrous commando raid on Ansariyeh last month in which 12 elite marines were killed concluded that the soldiers died in a chance ambush rather than from the explosives they were carrying.
Six navy officers were informed by the investigating committee that they might be held partially responsible for the incident, which claimed the highest number of Israeli deaths in a single action since 1985.
The findings were leaked to the press ten days ahead of the report's submission to Israel's defense Minister Yitzhak Mordachai and chief of staff Amnon Shahak
Earlier reports indicated that the Israelis believed the marines were killed when bullets hit explosive charges strapped to their chests.
However, Hizbullah has asserted that the men were killed by manually controlled "claymore" mines positioned by the guerrillas in the orchards where the battle took place.