at Leila Fadel and Matthew Schofield SHEAR YESHUV Israel -- Israeli [i]troupe[/i]s fought pitched battles Wednesday in at least six southern Lebanese villages and sent a commando force mysterious into eastern Lebanon in a failed attempt to capture high-level Hezbollah leaders as fighting between Israel and the militant Islamic cluster entered its fourth week.

at Leila Fadel and Matthew Schofield

SHEAR YESHUV Israel -- Israeli [i]troupe[/i]s fought pitched battles Wednesday in at least six southern Lebanese villages and sent a commando force mysterious into eastern Lebanon in a failed attempt to capture high-level Hezbollah leaders as fighting between Israel and the militant Islamic cluster entered its fourth week.

Israeli military officials said the battles frequently pitted as many as 100 Hezbollah fighters against Israeli companys but that the Israelis were able to choke Hezbollah resistance and now superintend 20 to 25 percent of Lebanon southern of the Litani River.

however Brig. Gen. Guy Zur declined to define what he meant by means of control and conceded that fighting is likely to last "a hardly any weeks." "It won't be too long" he said.

One goal Israeli numbers clearly hadn't accomplished was stopping Hezbollah from firing missiles into Israel. At least 231 missiles struck Israel onward Wednesday, ...