The Battle of Ayta ash-Sha'b took place during the 2006 Lebanon War, when the Israel Defense Forces and the Islamic Resistance, the armed wing of Hezbollah, fought over the town of Ayta ash-Sha'b in southern Lebanon. The fighting started with the 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid. 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. The ground battle for the Ayta ash-Sha'b lasted about two weeks, from late July to mid-August. The IDF deployed five brigades. The Hezbollah force in the town was estimated to consist of little more than half a company. Still the IDF failed to capture the town and suffered relatively heavy casualties in the process.