Maroun al-Ras
Israeli artillery fired around 8,000 shells on the Nature Reserve and the village on the first two days of battle. Several Hezbollah fighters were killed. The paratroopers discovered a very sophisticated listening post capable of listening on IDF communications, even in the West Bank. News that Maroun al-Ras had been occupied, however, seemed premature. The fighting would continue for several more days. A tank driver from the 7th Brigade told "The Jerusalem Post" that "many of our tanks took hits, mainly from Sagger rockets; none of the tanks were destroyed but quite a few of our friends were wounded." The IDF claimed that Abu Jaafar, the commander of Hezbollah's central sector, was killed in an exchange of fire during the battle, which was denied by Hezbollah. Crooke and Perry also deny this claim, writing that Abu Jaafar made public comments after the end of the war. However the village commander of the Amal Movement, Hani Alawiya (Abu Ali), was killed in the clashes in Maroun ar-Ras on July 20. On July 21, Muhammad Dimashq, a Hezbollah squad commander in the Maroun al-Ras area, was killed in action. According to Hezbollah, he was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper. His body was seized by the IDF and taken to Israel. Khalid Bazzi, the commander of the Hezbollah forces in the Bint Jbeil area personally took part in the battle of Maroun al-Ras. At one point in the battle contact was lost with him at it was feared that he had been killed. He later surfaced unharmed but was killed some days later during an air raid in Bint Jbeil. On the eighth day of the battle the IDF suffered its last fatality in the battle, a paratrooper who was killed by a missile.