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| style="float: right; clear: right; background-color: transparent" |- |Infobox Military Conflict |partof=the Israel-Lebanon conflict |image= |caption=Smoke over Tyre after an Israeli bombardment (top), a Katyusha-damaged building in Haifa (bottom left), an IDF M109 self-propelled howitzer fires into Southern Lebanon (bottom right) |conflict=2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict (Arab-Israeli conflict) |date=12 July 2006 — 8 September 2006 (cease-fire started 05:00 UTC, 14 August 2006) |place=Lebanon and northern Israel |result=Provisioned by UNSC Resolution 1701 |casus=Hezbollah cross-border raid, and shelling and the subsequent shooting at IDF rescue force, resulting in death of eight and the kidnapping of two IDF soldiers.• |combatant2= Israel |commander2=Dan Halutz (CoS), Moshe Kaplinsky ---- Israeli civilians: 44 dead •, and much of South Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to unexploded cluster bombs. On 11 August 2006 the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved UN Resolution 1701 in an effort to end the hostilities. The resolution, which was approved by both Lebanese and Israeli governments the following days, also called for the disarming of Hezbollah, for Israel to withdraw, and for the deployment of Lebanese soldiers and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) force in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army began deploying in southern Lebanon on 17 August 2006. The blockade was lifted on 8 September 2006.• On 1 October 2006 the Israeli army reported that it had completed its withdrawal, but UNIFIL denied these assertions. When asked about the UNIFIL report, the IDF confirmed its forces were still operating near Ghajar, a village split in two by the border. Background Lebanon has long failed to control militancy within its borders, and Israel has had a history of using force in Lebanon in response to militant attacks. The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was committing cross border attacks from Southern Lebanon into Israel as far back as 1968, but the area became a significant base following the arrival of the PLO leadership and its Fatah brigade after their 1971 expulsion from Jordan. This situation exacerbated demographic tensions over the Lebanese National Pact which divided governmental powers among religious groups, leading in part to the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990). Concurrently, Syria began a 29 year military occupation. Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon failed to stem the Palestinian attacks, but Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 and forcibly expelled the PLO. Israel withdrew to a slim borderland buffer zone, held with the aid of proxy militants in the South Lebanon Army (SLA). In 1985, a Lebanese Shi'a militia calling itself Hezbollah declared armed struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. When the Lebanese civil war ended and other warring factions agreed to disarm, Hezbollah and the SLA refused. Combat with Hezbollah weakened Israeli resolve and led to a collapse of the SLA and an early Israeli withdrawal in 2000 to their side of the UN designated border. Citing Israeli control of the Shebaa farms territory and the incarceration of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah continued cross border attacks, and successfully used the tactic of capturing soldiers from Israel as leverage for a prisoner exchange in 2004, though it also continues to call for Israel's destruction. Beginning of conflict At around 9:00 AM local time (06:00 UTC), on 12 July 2006, Hezbollah initiated diversionary rocket attacks toward Israeli military positions near the coast and near the border village of Zar'it•• Nasrallah declared: "No military operation will return the Israeli captured soldiers…The prisoners will not be returned except through one way: indirect negotiations and a trade of prisoners." • Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the capture of the soldiers as an "act of war" by the sovereign country of Lebanon•• and promised Lebanon a "very painful and far-reaching response."• Israel quickly blamed the Lebanese government for the raid, as it was carried out from Lebanese territory and Hezbollah had two ministers serving in the Lebanese cabinet at that time.• In response, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied any knowledge of the raid and stated that he did not condone it.•• An emergency meeting of the Lebanese government reaffirmed this position.• The Israel Defense Forces began hammering Lebanon with artillery and airstrikes hours before the Israeli Cabinet met to discuss a response. Israel's chief of staff Dan Halutz said, "if the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years," while the head of Israel's Northern Command Udi Adam said, "this affair is between Israel and the state of Lebanon. Where to attack? Once it is inside Lebanon, everything is legitimate -- not just southern Lebanon, not just the line of Hezbollah posts." The Israeli Cabinet authorized "severe and harsh" retaliation on Lebanon.• A retired Israeli Army Colonel explained that the rationale behind the attack was to create a rift between the Lebanese population and Hezbollah supporters by exacting a heavy price from the elite in Beirut.• When asked in August about the proportionality of the response, Prime Minister Olmert stated that the "war started not only by killing eight Israeli soldiers and abducting two but by shooting Katyusha and other rockets on the northern cities of Israel on that same morning. Indiscriminately." He added "no country in Europe would have responded in such a restrained manner as Israel did."• Israeli action During the campaign, Israel's Air Force flew more than 12,000 combat missions. The Navy fired 2,500 shells, and the Army fired over 100,000 shells •, destroying large parts of the Lebanese civilian infrastructure. 400 miles of roads, 73 bridges and 31 targets such as Beirut International Airport, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, electrical facilities, 25 fuel stations, 900 commercial structures, up to 350 schools and two hospitals were destroyed, as well as some 15,000 homes. Some 130,000 more homes were damaged.• • • • Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz ordered commanders to prepare civil defense plans. One million Israelis had to stay near or in bomb shelters or security rooms, with some 250,000 civilians evacuating the north and relocating to other areas of the country.• Timeline Hreik Before After 22 July 2006.png|right|thumb|250px|Satellite photographs of the Haret Hreik a Hezbollah dominated neighborhood [Dahieh district] of southern Beirut, Lebanon, before and after 22 July 2006. The neighborhood is home to Hezbollah's headquarters. ''See also high resolution photographs http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=33.853346,35.508993&spn=0.010425,0.021415 before and http://www.digitalglobe.com/images/qb/beirut_harat_july22_2006_dgwm.jpg after.'' Hezbollah action During the campaign, Hezbollah fired between 3,970 and 4,228 rockets, about 95% of which were 122 mm (4.8 in) Katyusha artillery rockets carrying an up to 30 kg (66 lb) warhead and having a range of up to 30 km (19 mi). An estimated 23% of these rockets hit built-up areas, primarily civilian in nature. Cities hit included Haifa, Hadera, Nazareth, Tiberias, Nahariya, Safed, Afula, Kiryat Shmona, Beit She'an, Karmiel, and Maalot, and dozens of Kibbutzim, Moshavim, and Druze and Arab villages, as well as the northern West Bank. Hezbollah also engaged in guerrilla warfare from well fortified positions with the IDF. These attacks by small, well-armed units caused serious problems for the IDF, especially where hundreds of sophisticated Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs) were used. Hezbollah destroyed 14 Israeli Merkava main battle tanks and damaged 50. Six tanks were destroyed by anti-tank mines. Hezbollah caused additional casualties using ATGMs to collapse buildings onto Israeli troops sheltering inside. After the initial Israeli response, Hezbollah declared an all-out military alert. Hezbollah was estimated to have 13,000 missiles at the beginning of the conflict.*. Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that it was a trained, skilled, well-organized, highly motivated infantry that was equipped with the cream of the crop of modern weaponry from the arsenals of Syria, Iran, Russia, and China. Lebanese satellite TV station Al-Manar reported that the attacks had included a Fajr-3 and a Ra'ad 1, both liquid-fuel missiles developed by Iran. Timeline Position of Lebanon While Israel initially held the Lebanese government responsible for the Hezbollah attacks due to Lebanon's failure to implement Resolution 1559 and disarm Hezbollah, Lebanon disavowed the raids, stating that the government of Lebanon did not condone them, and that Israel had its own history of disregarding inconvenient UN resolutions. On 13 July 2006 Hezbollah hit Haifa for the first time, targeting a cable car station along with a few other buildings .On 14 July 2006 the Prime Minister's office issued a statement that called on US President George W. Bush to exert all his efforts on Israel to stop its attacks on Lebanon, reach a comprehensive ceasefire and lift its blockade. On the next day, Siniora called for "an immediate ceasefire backed by the United Nations" in a televised speech. A US-France draft for a resolution that was influenced by the Lebanese Siniora Plan and which contained conditions on Israeli withdrawal, military actions and mutual prisoner release, was later rejected as inadequate. Many Lebanese accused the US government of stalling the ceasefire resolution and support of Israel. In a poll conducted two weeks into the conflict, 8% of the respondents felt that the US would support Lebanon, while 87% supported Hezbollah's fight against Israel.Israeli strikes may boost Hezbollah base After the attack on Qana, Siniora snubbed US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by cancelling a meeting with her and thanked Hezbollah for its "sacrifices for the independence and sovereignty of Lebanon."Civilian Deaths in Lebanon Provoke International Outcry, Israel Suspends Aerial Bombardment On 7 August 2006 the 7-point plan was extended to include the deployment of 15,000 Lebanese Army troops to fill the void between an Israeli withdrawal and UNIFIL deployment. During Israel's raid on Tyre, the Lebanese Army reportedly fired surface-to-air missiles at Israeli helicopters, which returned fire and destroyed a Lebanese M113 Armored Personnel Carrier. Israeli commandos raid Tyre, USATODAY.com Targeting of civilian areas The high number of civilian deaths in the conflict has been one of its most controversial aspects; Around 1,100 civilians, including 44 Israeli civilians were killed in the conflict making them the vast majority of the casualties.•• Israeli officials accused Hezbollah of intentionally using the civilian population as human shields, and several reports have alleged that Hezbollah fired rockets from residential areas to draw Israeli fire on those areas, which maximised civilian casualties.•• Moreover, the IDF said that Hezbollah had blocked village exits to prevent residents from leaving the warzone. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel points to Israeli attacks on roads, bridges and vehicles transporting refugees as preventing civilian evacuation.• Environmental damage The Israeli Air Force bombed the Jiyeh power station, 30 km (19 mi) south of Beirut, on 13 July 2006 and 15 July 2006, resulting in an environmental disaster. The plant's damaged storage tanks leaked 20,000 to 30,000 tonnes of oil into the eastern Mediterranean Sea, comparable in size to the Exxon Valdez oil spill.• A 10 km (6 mi) wide oil slick covers 170 km (105 statute miles) of coastline,•• and was threatening Turkey and Cyprus. The slick was reportedly causing breathing problems, killing fish, and threatened the habitat of the endangered green sea turtle, as well as increasing the risk of cancer. The Lebanese government estimated the time necessary for a complete recovery to be 10 years. The UN estimated the cost for the initial clean-up at $64m. • Hezbollah rocket attacks caused numerous forest fires inside northern Israel, particularly on the Naftali mountain range near Kiryat Shmona.• As of 8 August as many as 9,000 acres including 3,000 acres of Israel’s few forests, were damaged by fires caused by Hezbollah rockets, and at least one forest has lost nearly 75% of its trees.• The Jewish National Fund estimated that it would take 50 to 60 years to rehabilitate the forests.• International action and reaction
Ceasefire Terms for a ceasefire had been drawn and revised several times over the course of the conflict, yet successful agreement between the two sides took several weeks. Hezbollah maintained the desire for an unconditional ceasefire,• while Israel insisted upon a conditional ceasefire, including the return of the two kidnapped soldiers.• Lebanon frequently pled for the United Nations Security Council to call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. On 11 August 2006 the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved UN Security Council Resolution 1701, in an effort to end the hostilities. It was accepted by the Lebanese government and Hezbollah on 12 August 2006, and by the Israeli government on 13 August 2006. The ceasefire took effect at 8:00 AM (5:00 AM GMT) on 14 August 2006. • Before the ceasefire, the two Hezbollah members of cabinet said that their militia would not disarm south of the Litani River, according to another senior member of the Lebanese cabinet,• while a top Hezbollah official similarly denied any intention of disarming in the south. Israel said it would stop withdrawing from Southern Lebanon if Lebanese troops were not deployed there within a matter of days.• Reviews of the conflict Image:Economist Cover 20060819.jpg|225px|thumb|right|The Economist magazine cover declaring Hezbollah de facto winners of the war.• On 28 August, Olmert announced that there would be no independent national or governmental commission of inquiry, but two internal inspection commissions, one to investigate the political echelon and one to examine IDF, and likely a third commission to examine the Home Front, to be announced at a later date. These would have a more limited mandate and less authority than a single inquiry commission headed by a retired judge. The political and military committees were to be headed by former director of Mossad Nahum Admoni and former Chief of Staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, respectively. Critics argued that these committees amount to a whitewash, due to their limited authority, limited investigatory scope, their self-appointed basis, and that neither would be headed by a retired judge. On 12 September, former defense minister Moshe Arens spoke of "the defeat of Israel" in calling for a state committee of inquiry. He said that Israel had lost "to a very small group of people, 5000 Hezbollah fighters, which should have been no match at all for the IDF," and stated that the conflict could have "some very fateful consequences for the future." Disclosing his intent to shortly resign, Ilan Harari, the IDF's chief education officer, stated at a conference of senior IDF officers that Israel lost the war, becoming the first senior active duty officer to publicly state such an opinion.• IDF Major General Yiftah Ron Tal, on Oct 4, 2006 became the second and highest ranking serving officer to express his opinion that the IDF failed "to win the day in the battle against Hezbollah," as well as calling for Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz' resignation. Ron-Tal was subsequently fired for making those and other critical comments. US President George W. Bush questioned Hezbollah's declarations of victory "when at one time they were a state within a state, safe within southern Lebanon, and now they're going to be replaced by a Lebanese army and an international force." UNIFIL has been given an expanded mandate, including the ability to use force to ensure that their area of operations is not used for hostile activities, and to resist attempts by force to prevent them from discharging their duties.• The fighting resulted in a huge financial setback for Lebanon, with estimates ranging from US$7 to US$15 billion in direct costs while the cost for Israel is put at US$1.6 - US$3 billion. This has prompted a commentator in the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat to question the claims of victory by Hezbollah. According to one analyst in the Associated Press, the main casualty was the fragile unity between Lebanon's sectarian and political groups, though an Asia Times piece points to Free Patriotic Movement head Michel Aoun's support for Hezbollah and provision of housing for displaced Shi'a as evidence for strengthened relations. Media controversy Several media commentators and journalists have alleged an intentially distorted coverage of the events, in favour of Hezbollah, by means of photo manipulation, staging by Hezbollah or by journalists, and false or misleading captioning. On 18 July 2006 Hezbollah Press Officer Hussein Nabulsi took CNN's Nic Robertson on an exclusive tour of southern Beirut. Robertson noted that despite his minder's anxiety about explosions in the area, it was clear that Hezbollah had sophisticated media relations and were in control of the situation. Hezbollah designated the places that they went to, and the journalists "certainly didn't have time to go into the houses or lift up the rubble to see what was underneath." According to his reports, there was no doubt that the bombs were hitting Hezbollah facilities, and while there appeared to be "a lot of civilian damage, a lot of civilian properties," he reiterated that he couldn't verify the civilian nature of the destroyed buildings.• CNN's Charlie Moore described a Hezbollah press tour of a bombed-out area in southern Beirut on 23 July 2006 as a "dog-and-pony show" due to perceived staging, misrepresentation of the nature of the destroyed areas, and strict directives about when and with whom interviews could take place.• In the same interview aired on 23 July 2006, CNN's John Roberts, who was reporting from an Israeli artillery battery on the Lebanese border, stated that he had to take everything he was told—either by the IDF or Hezbollah—"with a grain of salt," citing mutual recriminations of civilian targeting which he was unable to verify independently.• Reuters withdrew over 900 photographs by Adnan Hajj, a Lebanese freelance photographer, after he admitted to digitally adding and darkening smoke spirals in photographs of an attack on Beirut. Photographs submitted to Reuters and Associated Press showed one Lebanese woman mourning on two different pictures taken by two photographers, allegedly taken two weeks apart. While it is "common practice to send more than one photographer to an incident", questions remained as to whether the images were wrongly captioned or deliberately staged. Post-ceasefire events See also | |||||||||
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