Stephen Farrell, The Times Middle East correspondent, today witnessed fierce fighting on a battlefront only yards from the Israeli border town of Metulla. View pictures of the firefight:

THE Hezbollah anti-tank missiles screamed in from above the low haze-covered hills surrounding southern Lebanon's El Marj valley, crippling the Israeli battle tank only a few hundred metres from the border.

From a hilltop in the Israeli town of Metulla the Merkava tank's crew could be seen sprinting for safety to another tank nearby, as one vehicle laid down clouds of smoke to cover their movements.

Another Hezbollah anti-tank missile, and sparks flew up feet from another Israeli tank as a fierce battle raged less than a mile into Lebanon even as the Israeli government prepared to push tens of thousands more troops 20 miles into the country.

The renewed attacks came after 15 Israeli soldiers were killed on Wednesday —mostly by anti-tank missiles — amid the first sign of serious doubts in the Israeli media about whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government can accomplish its objectives, or if Israel will get sucked back into the mire of Lebanon from which it withdrew with ignominy in May 2000.

One newspaper front page called for the "Long and Hard Final Movement" envisaged by the security Cabinet which backed plans for a forthcoming major push to the Litani River. But elsewhere, another leading analyst cautioned that "we are getting lost in pursuit of a victory that is not there," under the headline "Olmert, Cut and Run".

Certainly this morning it was clear that, even within sight of Israel's red-roofed kibbutzes small numbers of Hezbollah fighters were able to tie down columns of Israeli armour and support infantry in the shallow plain of the El Marj, which forms a natural amphitheatre encircled by low hills topped by the Lebanese villages of Khiam, Marjaoun, Taibeh and Kafr Kila.

Overnight the battle had been clearly audible inside Israel, from where the red streaks of nightime surface-to-surface missiles screamed across the invisible border line towards Hezbollah's hilltop positions.

When day broke the Shia group's fighters continued their bombardment of Israeli armour with sophisticated shoulder-launched missiles.

One tank was crippled, and we later saw it being towed across the plain by a sister tank, while others pumped out smoke to cover their movements.

At times half a dozen Israeli tanks were moving slowly across the exposed frontier, either to evacuate back into Israel or, perhaps to draw Hezbollah fire for forward artillery spotters to identify the guerrillas' shooting positions.

As the tanks pulled out of the valley all went quiet. Then shortly afterwards Israel's Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) batteries opened up from just behind the border, lacerating the sky with smoke trails as the blazing rockets arced towards Lebanese villages, sending up clouds of debris.

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