Hezbollah fighters engaged in clashes with Israeli soldiers who advanced into two border towns in southern Lebanon, killing eight Israeli soldiers and wounding five others, Hezbollah and Israeli Army reported Wednesday.

Hezbollah said it repelled an Israeli infiltration into southern Lebanon on Wednesday, as Israel reported eight soldiers were killed -- its first losses since launching cross-border raids this week.

Israel said on Wednesday eight of its soldiers were killed in combat in south Lebanon as its forces thrust into its northern neighbour in a campaign against the Hezbollah armed group. The losses were the deadliest suffered by the Israeli military on the Lebanon front in the past year of border-area clashes between Israel and its Iranian-backed Lebanese foe.