Helicopters have played a key role in Israel's offensive

 The Israeli helicopter was shot down by a new type of missile on Saturday night in the Lebanese town of Yater 6 km (4 miles) north of the border, Hezbollah said.

Israel confirmed that there were casualties resulting from a helicopter crash in Lebanon.

The Israeli army said it was the first aircraft shot down in Lebanon since its war with Hizbollah erupted on July 12.

In Beirut, a Hezbollah spokesman said the Shia group had shot down the aircraft in the border village of Yater.

"The fighters of the Islamic resistance (armed wing of  Hezbollah) fired rockets at a helicopter carrying troops who were trying to land on the Yater hill," he said.

"It was struck and it fell," he added. Hezbollah says that the helicopter was shot down by a new type of missile called the 'Waad'.

At least eleven Israeli soldiers were killed on Saturday as Israeli forces pushed deeper into Lebanon in an apparent attempt to destroy Hezbollah forces south of the Litani river, 30 km north of the border, before a ceasefire begins on Monday morning.

The Israeli army said it had killed more than 40 Hezbollah fighters in the last 24 hours and destroyed several rocket launchers. Hezbollah denied that it had lost that many fighters in the clashes.

At least 1,061 people in Lebanon and 135 Israelis have been killed since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

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