Hezbollah cross-border raid map At around 9am local time on 12 July 2006, Hezbollah launched
diversionary rocket attacks toward Israeli military positions near the coast and near the border village of
Zar'it as well as on the Israeli town of
Shlomi and other villages. In response to the Hezbollah feint attacks, the IDF conducted a routine check of its positions and patrols, and found that contact with two jeeps was lost. A rescue force was immediately dispatched to the area, and confirmed that two soldiers were missing after 20 minutes. A
Merkava Mk III tank, an
armored personnel carrier, and a
helicopter were immediately dispatched into Lebanon. The tank hit a large land mine, killing its crew of four. Another soldier was killed and two lightly injured by mortar fire as they attempted to recover the bodies.); •
Nasim Nisr (
an Israeli-Lebanese citizen whom Israel tried and convicted for spying); •
Yahya Skaf (
a Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah claims was arrested in Israel; Israel states that he was killed in action); •
Ali Faratan (
another Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah claimed to be held in Israel, believed to have been shot at sea.). Nasrallah claimed that Israel had broken a previous deal to release these prisoners, and since diplomacy had failed, violence was the only remaining option. stating that "Lebanon will bear the consequences of its actions" and promising a "very painful and far-reaching response." Israel blamed the Lebanese government for the raid, as it was carried out from Lebanese territory. Hezbollah had two ministers serving in the Lebanese cabinet at that time. An emergency meeting of the Lebanese government reaffirmed this position. The
Israel Defense Forces attacked targets within Lebanon with artillery and airstrikes hours before the
Israeli Cabinet met to discuss a response. The targets consisted of bridges and roads in Lebanon, which were hit to prevent Hezbollah from transporting the abductees. An Israeli airstrike also destroyed the runways of
Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport. Forty-four civilians were killed. Many of Hezbollah's longer-range rocket launchers were destroyed within the first hours of the Israeli attack. 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 Cabinet's communiqué stated, in part, that the "Lebanese Government [was] responsible for the action that originated on its soil." 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 air and artillery attacks , 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 before and , near
Sidon,
bombed by the
Israeli Air Force (IAF) During the first day of the war the Israeli Air Force, artillery and navy conducted more than 100 attacks mainly against Hezbollah bases in south Lebanon, among them the regional headquarters in Yatar. Five bridges across the Litani and Zahrani rivers were also destroyed, reportedly to prevent Hezbollah from transferring the abducted soldiers to the north. Attacks from land, sea and air continued in the following days. Among the targets hit were the Hezbollah headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut as well as the offices and homes of the leadership, the compounds of
al-Manar TV station and
al-Nour radio station, and the runways and fuel depots of the
Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut. Also targeted were Hezbollah bases, weapons depots and outposts as well as bridges, roads and petrol stations in south Lebanon. Forty-four civilians were killed throughout the day. "All the long-range rockets have been destroyed," chief of staff Halutz allegedly told the Israeli government, "We've won the war." American officials claimed that the Israelis overstated the effectiveness of the air war against Hezbollah and cited the failure to hit any of the Hezbollah leaders in spite of dropping twenty-three tons of high explosives in a single raid on the Beirut Southern suburbs of Dahiya. The Israeli assessments are "too large," said one US official. Al-Manar TV station only went dark for two minutes after the strike before it was back into the air. The TV station was bombed 15 times during the war but never faltered after the first hiccup. According to military analyst
William Arkin there is "little evidence" that the Israeli Air Force even attempted, much less succeeded in, wiping out the medium- and long-range-rocket capability in the first days of the war. He dismissed the whole claim as an "absurdity" and a "tale". Benjamin Lambeth, however, insisted that it was far-fetched to suggest that the "authoritative Israeli leadership pronouncements" were not based on facts. He admitted however that there was "persistent uncertainty" surrounding the "few known facts and figures" concerning the alleged attacks.
Anthony Cordesman believed that IAF probably destroyed most medium- and long-range missiles in the first two days of the war but acknowledged that these claims "have never been validated or described in detail." Hezbollah long remained silent on the question of its rockets, but on the sixth anniversary of the war, chairman Hassan Nasrallah asserted that Israel had missed them, claiming that Hezbollah had known about Israeli intelligence gathering and had managed to secretly move its platforms and launchers in advance. During the war the
Israeli Air Force flew 11,897 combat missions, which was more than the number of sorties during the
1973 October War (11,223) and almost double the number during the
1982 Lebanon War (6,052). The
Israeli artillery fired 170,000 shells, more than twice the number fired in the 1973 October War. A senior officer in the IDF Armored Corps told
Haaretz that he would be surprised if it turned out that even five Hezbollah fighters had been killed by the 170,000 shells fired. The
Israeli Navy fired 2,500 shells. The combined effect of the massive air and artillery bombardment on Hezbollah capacity to fire short-range Katyusha rockets on northern Israel was very meager. According to the findings of the post-war military investigations the IDF shelling succeeded only in destroying about 100 out of 12,000 Katyusha launchers. The massive fire led to a severe shortage of ammunition towards the end of the war. Northern command had prepared a list before the war on potential Hezbollah targets, identified by the Israeli intelligence, to be struck in case of renewed hostilities. By the fourth day of the war the IDF ran out of targets, as all the 83 targets on the list had already been hit. A high-ranking IDF officer told reporters off the record that the Israeli chief of staff Dan Halutz had ordered the air force to destroy ten 12-story buildings in the Southern suburbs of Beirut for every rocket that fell on Haifa. The statement was denied by the IDF spokesperson. Large parts of the Lebanese civilian infrastructure, however, were destroyed, including of roads, 73 bridges, and 31 other targets such as Beirut's
Rafic Hariri International Airport, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, electrical facilities, 25 fuel stations, 900 commercial structures, up to 350 schools and two hospitals, and 15,000 homes. Some 130,000 more homes were damaged. The attack on the Haifa depot was not the first civilian target to be hit by Hezbollah. Civilians in the border communities were hurt in the initial cover fire on IDF positions for the cross-border raid. Two Israeli civilians were killed in an attack near the air force base at
Mount Meron on 14 July. Since Hezbollah rockets were not very accurate it is unclear whether civilians were intentionally targeted in these attacks. After the attack on Haifa, however, Hezbollah made no attempt to cover this fact. According to a
Human Rights Watch study civilian Israeli targets were mentioned four times as often in official Hezbollah war time communiques as was military targets. Hezbollah TV station al-Manar warned both in Arabic and Hebrew specific Israeli communities for future rocket attacks. Similarly Hezbollah sent text messages to warn Israeli residents to evacuate their homes to avoid being targeted by rocket attacks. Israel published an alleged range card for upgraded Grad rocket launcher placed outside the village of Shihin in the Western sector of South Lebanon, issued by the Artillery Department of the elite Nasr Unit of Hezbollah. This list included 91 targets, 56 of whom were civilian and 27 were IDF posts or bases. The military targets had three-digit reference numbers while civilian targets had double-digit numbers. During the war, the
Hezbollah rocket force fired between 3,970 and 4,228 rockets at a rate of more than 100 per day, unprecedented since the
Iran–Iraq War. An estimated 23% of these rockets hit cities and built-up areas across northern Israel, while the remainder hit open areas.
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. After the high number of Lebanese civilian casualties in the
Qana airstrike, Israel announced a unilateral freeze in its air attacks on Lebanon. Hezbollah then halted its own rocket attacks on Israel. When Israel resumed its air attacks on Lebanon, Hezbollah followed suit and recommenced rocket attacks on Israeli targets. Hezbollah rocket attacks also targeted and succeeded in hitting military targets in Israel. The Israeli military censorship was, however, very strict and explicitly forbade Israel-based media from reporting such incidents. The wartime instruction to media stated that "The Military Censor will not approve reports on missile hits at IDF bases and/or strategic facilities." A notable exception was the rocket attack 6 August, on a company of IDF reservists assembling in the border community of
Kfar Giladi, which killed twelve soldiers and wounded several others. Initially Israel did not confirm that the victims were military but eventually relented. On 6 August, two elderly Arab women in Haifa were killed, and an Arab man was mortally wounded, by Hezbollah rocket fire. 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 described Hezbollah as a trained, skilled, well-organized, and highly motivated infantry that was equipped with the cream of modern weaponry from the arsenals of
Syria, Iran, Russia, and China. Hezbollah's 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.
Ground war N
armored bulldozers destroy a Hezbollah bunker. Hezbollah engaged in
guerrilla warfare with IDF ground forces, fighting from well-fortified positions, often in urban areas, and attacking with small, well-armed units. Hezbollah fighters were highly trained, and were equipped with flak jackets,
night-vision goggles, communications equipment, and sometimes with Israeli uniforms and equipment. An Israeli soldier who participated in the war said that Hezbollah fighters were "nothing like
Hamas or the Palestinians. They are trained and highly qualified. All of us were kind of surprised." Hezbollah countered IDF armor through the use of sophisticated Iranian-made
anti-tank guided missiles (ATGMs). According to Merkava tank program administration, 52
Merkava main battle tanks were damaged (45 of them by different kinds of ATGM), missiles penetrated 22 tanks, but only 5 tanks were destroyed, one of them by an
improvised explosive device (IED). The Merkava tanks that were penetrated were predominantly
Mark II and Mark III models, but five
Mark IVs were also penetrated. All but two of these tanks were rebuilt and returned to service. On 19 July a force from the
Maglan special forces unit seized a fortified Hezbollah dugout adjacent to the Shaked post; two IDF soldiers and five Hezbollah operatives were killed in the battle.
Position of Lebanon While the
Israeli government initially held the
Lebanese government responsible for the Hezbollah attacks due to Lebanon's failure to implement
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 and disarm Hezbollah, Lebanon disavowed the raids, stating that the government of Lebanon did not condone them, and pointing out that Israel had a long history of disregarding UN resolutions. On 12 July 2006,
PBS interviewed the Lebanese ambassador
Farid Abboud to the United States and his Israeli counterpart. The interview discussed Hezbollah's connection to the Lebanese government. Israel never
declared war on Lebanon, 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." During the war, the
Lebanese Armed Forces did not engage in direct hostilities, but threatened retaliation if IDF troops pushed too far northward into Lebanon. In several instances, Lebanese troops fired anti-aircraft weapons at Israeli aircraft and attempted to disrupt landing operations. During the first days of the war, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said that "the Lebanese army will resist and defend the country. If there is an invasion of Lebanon, we are waiting for them." However, the Lebanese Army mostly stayed out of the fighting. According to a
Time editorial, "to have stood up to the advancing Israeli armored columns would have been suicidal." On 7 August 2006, the seven-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.
Psychological warfare During the war, Hezbollah broadcaseted warnings in Hebrew and Arabic to specific Israeli communities regarding upcoming rocket attacks,
Ceasefire leaving Lebanon 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 seized soldiers. Lebanon frequently pleaded for the
United Nations Security Council to call for an immediate, unconditional ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
John Bolton confirmed that the US and UK, with support from several Arab leaders, delayed the ceasefire process. Outsider efforts to interfere with a ceasefire only ended when it became apparent Hezbollah would not be easily defeated. 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, and by the Israeli government on 13 August. The ceasefire took effect at 8:00 am (5:00 am GMT) on 14 August. 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. == War crimes ==