"The significant change of strategy to higher-risk ground fighting is a tacit admission that the campaign of aerial bombing has been less successful than hoped...The first Israeli ground troops have already found heavier than expected resistance, losing six soldiers in two days of fighting north of the Israeli border town of Avivim. A further 14 were injured in mortar fire and gun battles. "These positions were much more fortified than we expected them to be," a senior Israeli official said. "Give them credit, they are good fighters.""