After a failed Israeli incursion immediately after the cross-border raid, the town was subjected to two and a half weeks of intense bombardment by air and artillery.

[2] Ayta ash-Sha'b, other Lebanese border villages, and Hezbollah outposts were immediately subjected to bombardment from aircraft, artillery, and attack helicopters supporting Israeli ground forces.

"[11] Less than two hours after the capture of the two soldiers, the IDF sent a force of tanks and armored personnel carriers across the border following a dirt track, through an olive grove called Khallat Warda, leading to Ayta ash-Sha'b.

The force was ordered to capture a Hezbollah post and to take control of the exit roads from the town, in case the abducted soldiers were still there.

The tank was destroyed and its four crewmen were killed instantly, and the mission to capture the access roads to the town was quickly abandoned.

Hezbollah fire prevented the extraction of the destroyed tank and the remains of the four soldiers just inside Lebanese territory for several days.

[18] On the evening of 12 July, IDF Northern Command contemplated sending paratroopers to Ayta ash-Sha'b "to conduct arrests".

[21] Around 03.00 the following morning 13/7 the Israeli Air Force started attacking ground targets in south Lebanon.

[23][24] The headquarters of the 91st Division at Biranit just across the border from Ayta ash-Sha'b was subjected to a "hard and extremely accurate" attack by Katyusha rockets.

The Command bunker received a direct hit destroying the generator and cutting off light and air supply to the facility.

[22] On 14 July the IDF launched operation "Salvation to the South" to encourage the evacuation of the civilian population in the border villages, among them Ayta ash-Sha'b.

About a week into the war the IDF resumed ground operations around Ayta ash-Sha'b, with nightly incursions by foot, mainly around the Old Quarter in the west and the northern sections of the town, such as the Abu Tawil hill.

[14][28] On the 19th, Northern Command launched Operation Webs of Steel 1, a simultaneous attack on the border villages of Maroun ar-Ras, Marwahin and Ayta ash-Sha'b.

[35] The Paratroopers were originally supposed to move north the following day but because of the casualties sustained, they were ordered to remain in the vicinity of the town.

[36] Defense Minister Amir Peretz expressed his growing frustration at the slow progress IDF was making to his senior officers: "It's infuriating – we're circling Ayta al-Shaab for the third time already.

When Israeli forces retreated the fighters would generally take cover in tunnels or shelters to avoid the shelling or bombardment from the air that would usually follow.

[24] In spite of the substantial losses, IDF officials denied that there was any intention of withdrawing from the village, without "a clear surrender" of Hezbollah, because it was major stronghold and considered a "symbol of the determination" of the movement.

[48] Israeli forces eventually bypassed Ayta ash-Sha'b and started pushing northward towards the villages of al-Qawzah and Dibil, a few kilometers to the north of the town.

Local headquarters were alerted and the Israeli force was subjected to artillery and mortar fire, near the Dibil public swimming pool, from positions outside Ayta ash-Sha'b.

An Israeli unit, belonging to the 8219th Engineering Battalion of the 551st Paratrooper Reserve Brigade, took cover in a garage on the outskirts of Dibil.

Survivors later expressed bitterness at the IDF command, whose "incompetence and stupidity" contributed to the high number of casualties.

On the last day of the fighting, an IDF infantry force at the Abu Tawil hill in the northern outskirts of the town was hit by an anti-tank missile.

[56][57] By the time the cease-fire took effect on the morning of 14 August, the IDF apparently had abandoned all its positions inside Ayta a-Sha'b.

According to Harel and Issacharoff, the town became "a symbol of Israel's performance in the war, the village where it all began, where the IDF thrashed about for four weeks and never succeeded in taking.

Chief of Staff Halutz sent his deputy, Maj.-Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, to Northern Command, to serve as his "coordinator" beside Adam.

[63][64] Veteran Israeli war correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai claimed that the problem was not limited to the commanding officers.

Almost every Israeli offensive operation in the war, including those in Ayta ash-Sha'b, were called off as soon as resistance was encountered and casualties were sustained, even though IDF in almost every clash enjoyed superiority, both in terms of numbers and firepower.

Soldiers often abandoned their missions and focused all efforts on evacuating casualties from the battlefield rather than continuing to pursue their objectives.

The three were accused of a long series of criminal offenses, including "providing service to an illegal association," "weapons training in Iran and Lebanon without government permission," "conspiracy to commit a crime," and "conspiracy to commit murder" as well as participation in the kidnapping and attempted kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

On 19 July Zaynab Salah Jawad, aged 7, and her sister Kawthar, 4, were killed when a 155 mm artillery shell struck the private home in the nearby Christian village of Rumaysh, where the family had sought refuge after being evacuated from Ayta ash-Sha'b.