১| ০৮ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ সকাল ১১:৩৩

বিদ্রোহী ভৃগু বলেছেন: বিস্তারিত তথ্য সমৃদ্ধ পোষ্টে অনেক কিছু জানা হল

অনেক অনেক ধন্যবাদ

+++

২| ০৮ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ সকাল ১১:৪৯

সিগন্যাস বলেছেন: খুবই সুন্দর লিখেছেন।হিজবুল্লাহর কাছে লক্ষাধিক মিসাইল রয়েছে জেনে অবাক হলাম।এই ব্যাপারে কিছু বলুন

৩| ০৮ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ দুপুর ১২:১৮

হাসান কালবৈশাখী বলেছেন:
সরকার ও সংসদ বিভিন্ন গোত্র ও সংখালঘু ধর্মিয় গোষ্ঠির ভেতর সংসদিয় আসন কোটা ভিত্তিক বন্টন হয়।

Total seat 128
Maronite Christian 34 + প্রেসিডেন্ট
Orthodox 14
Melkite Catholic 8
Armenian Orthodox 5
Armenian Catholic 1
Protestant 1
Other Christian 1


Sunni 27 + প্রধানমন্ত্রী
Shi'ite 27 + স্পিকার
Alawite 2
Druze 8

৪| ০৮ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ বিকাল ৪:০১

হাঙ্গামা বলেছেন: দেশটাতে শুনলাম হাফপ্যান্ট পরা মেয়ে পুলিশ নিয়োগ নিয়ে কিঞ্চিত হাঙ্গামা চলছে

৫| ০৮ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ সন্ধ্যা ৬:০৪

রাজীব নুর বলেছেন: আহা সোনার দেশ।
যাবো কিছু দিনের জন্য লেবানন বেড়াতে।

৬| ০৮ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ সন্ধ্যা ৬:২২

রিফাত হোসেন বলেছেন: +

৭| ০৮ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ রাত ১০:১৩

ইমরান আশফাক বলেছেন: ভাল লাগলো এই তথ্যসমৃদ্ধ পোস্টটি। আপনাকে ধন্যবাদ।

৮| ১৬ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ রাত ২:২৪

অনল চৌধুরী বলেছেন: প্রাচীন দুই বন্দর এলাকা।
বাইবেলেও এদের উল্লেখ আছে।

৯| ১৬ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ রাত ২:৪১

রাকু হাসান বলেছেন: তিন নাম্বার ছবিটা দারুণ লাগলো ....

১০| ১৬ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ সকাল ১০:৪৮

টারজান০০০০৭ বলেছেন: হিজবুল্লাহ ইজরাইলরে দুইবার হারাইছে !! উরিব্বাশ! ইহা শুনিয়া একখানা কৌতুক মনে পড়িল :

"পিঁপড়া একবার উড়িয়া হাতির পিঠে আছাড় খাইল ! অতিশয় ভদ্র পিঁপড়া বিনয়ের সাথে হাতিরে জিজ্ঞাসা করিল, মহাশয়, আপনাকে আঘাত দেওয়ায় আমি খুবই লজ্জিত !

হাতি কহিল , তুমি কে হে ? "

ইজরায়েলের জন্য হুমকি মনে হইলে হিজবুল্লাহ বহু আগেই নিশ্চিহ্ন হইয়া যাইতো ! নচেৎ হিজবুল্লার সৎ পিতা সিরিয়ার আণবিক স্থাপনা ভাঙিয়া গুড়াইয়া দিলেও সিরিয়া কু কু করা ছাড়া আর কিছু কহিতে পারে নাই ! তবে সিরিয়ার নিরাপরাধ সুন্নিদের পোঙ্গা মারিতে হিজবুল্লাহ খুবই পারঙ্গম তাহা প্রমাণিত !

এতো গোজামিল দিয়া একখানা দেশ চলে কেমনে কে জানে !

তয় লেবাননের মাইয়াগুলান মাশাল্লাহ !

১১| ১৬ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ বিকাল ৪:৩৪

টারজান০০০০৭ বলেছেন: আইএস বা আইডিএফ মারুক কোন সমস্যা নাই। কারণ যাহারা যুদ্ধে যায় তাহারা হয় মারিতে যায় নাহয় মরিতে যায় ! তবে সাধারণ নিরাপরাধ সুন্নিদের উপর হত্যা, ধর্ষণ, নির্যাতন , ঘরবাড়ি ধ্বংস ইত্যাদি যাহারা করে তাহারা হিজবুল্লাহ নহে , হিজবুসশয়তান ! পশ্চিমা বেজন্মাদের সাথে ইহাদের পার্থক্য নাই। আর তাহাদের যাহারা সমর্থন করে তব ঘৃণা যেন তারে তৃণ সমদহে !!

১২| ১৭ ই জুলাই, ২০১৮ রাত ২:১৯

অনল চৌধুরী বলেছেন: ২০০৬ এর যদ্ধে হেযবুল্লাহর সৈন্য বেশী মারা গেলেও তাদের ছোড়া কাতিউশা রকেটের অাঘাতে অ র সন্মুখযুদ্ধে যে পরিমাণ ইসরাইলী সৈন্য হতাহত হয়েছিলো,তাতে বিজয় তাদেরই হয়েছিলো বলা যায়।কারণ ইসরাইলের তুলনায় হেযবুল্লাহ একটা রাষ্ট্রবিহীন ছোট গেরিলা সংগঠন।
৫ টা অারব ইসরাইল যুদ্ধে এতগলি অারব দেশ ইসরাইলের সাথে হেরে ভূত হয়েছে।সে তুলনায় কিন্ত ২০০৬ এর যুদ্ধে হেযবুল্লাহর সাফল্য ইতিহাসে লেখা থাকবে।
নিজেই পড়ে দেখেন।2006 Lebanon War
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For other wars in Lebanon, see Lebanon War.
2006 Lebanon War
Part of the Israeli–Lebanese conflict and the Iran–Israel proxy conflict[5]
Tyre air strike.jpg
Bombed-out buildings in Lebanon, 2006
Date 12 July – 14 August 2006
(Israeli blockade of Lebanon ended on 8 September 2006)
Location Lebanon, Northern Israel and the Golan Heights[7]
Result

Stalemate,[8] both sides claim victory[9][10]

Ceasefire through UNSC Resolution 1701
The Lebanese Army is introduced into South Lebanon and UNIFIL deployments reinforced

Belligerents
Israel
Supported by:
[show]


Hezbollah
Amal[2]
LCP[3]
PFLP-GC[4]
Supported by:
[show]
Commanders and leaders

Israel Ehud Olmert (Prime Minister of Israel)
Israel Amir Peretz
Israel Dan Halutz
Israel Moshe Kaplinsky
Israel Udi Adam
Israel Eliezer Shkedi
Israel David Ben Ba'ashat

Hassan Nasrallah (Secretary-General of Hezbollah)
Imad Mughniyeh
Nabih Berri
Khaled Hadadi
Ahmed Jibril
Strength
Up to 10,000 soldiers by August 2;[11] 30,000 soldiers in the last few days.[12] Several hundred
(south of the Litani River)[13][14]
Casualties and losses

Israel Defense Forces:
Killed: 121 killed
Wounded: 1,244 [15]
Israeli civilians:
Killed: 44 [16] [17]
Wounded:1,384 [18]
Foreign civilians:
2 dead [19]

Hezbollah Fighters:
Killed: 250 (Hezbollah claim)[20]
≤500 (Lebanese officials' est.)[21]
500 (UN officials' est.)[22]
600–800 (IDF claim)[23][24]
Captured: 4 fighters[25]

Amal militia: 17 dead

LCP militia: 12 dead

PFLP-GC militia: 2 dead

IRGC: ≈6–9 dead (Lebanese officials' est.)[26][27]

Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces: 43 dead[2]

Lebanese civilians (combatants included) and foreign civilians:
Dead:*
1,191 (Amnesty International)[28]
1,109 (including 250 Hezbollah fighters)(Human Rights Watch)[29][30]
1,191 (Lebanese government est.)[31][32][33][34][35]
Wounded:
4,409

Foreign civilians:
51 dead[19]
25 wounded
United Nations:
5 dead
12 wounded[36]
The Lebanese government does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in death toll figures.[24]
For total casualty figures, see: Casualties of the 2006 Lebanon War

vte

2006 Lebanon War

vte

Israeli–Lebanese conflict
Smoke over Haifa, Israel, after a rocket launched by Hezbollah hit the city near Bnei-Zion hospital

The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War[37] and known in Lebanon as the July War[2] (Arabic: حرب تموز‎, Ḥarb Tammūz) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War (Hebrew: מלחמת לבנון השנייה‎, Milhemet Levanon HaShniya),[38] was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon, Northern Israel and the Golan Heights. The principal parties were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The conflict started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006 when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon. Due to unprecedented Iranian military support to Hezbollah before and during the war, some consider it the first round of the Iran–Israel proxy conflict, rather than a continuation of the Arab–Israeli conflict.[5]

The conflict was precipitated by the 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid. On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah fighters fired rockets at Israeli border towns as a diversion for an anti-tank missile attack on two armored Humvees patrolling the Israeli side of the border fence.[39] The ambush left three soldiers dead. Two Israeli soldiers were abducted and taken by Hezbollah to Lebanon.[39][40] Five more were killed in Lebanon, in a failed rescue attempt. Hezbollah demanded the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel in exchange for the release of the abducted soldiers.[41] Israel refused and responded with airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon. Israel attacked both Hezbollah military targets and Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport.[42] The IDF launched a ground invasion of Southern Lebanon. Israel also imposed an air and naval blockade.[43] Hezbollah then launched more rockets into northern Israel and engaged the IDF in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions.[44]

The conflict is believed to have killed between 1,191 and 1,300 Lebanese people,[45][46][47][48] and 165 Israelis.[49] It severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebanese[50] and 300,000–500,000 Israelis.[51][52][53]

On 11 August 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 (UNSCR 1701) in an effort to end the hostilities. The resolution, which was approved by both the Lebanese and Israeli governments the following days, called for disarmament of Hezbollah, for withdrawal of the IDF from Lebanon, and for the deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in the south. UNIFIL was given an expanded mandate, including the ability to use force to ensure that their area of operations was not used for hostile activities, and to resist attempts by force to prevent them from discharging their duties.[54] The Lebanese Army began deploying in Southern Lebanon on 17 August 2006. The blockade was lifted on 8 September 2006.[55] On 1 October 2006, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, although the last of the troops continued to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar.[56] In the time since the enactment of UNSCR 1701 both the Lebanese government and UNIFIL have stated that they will not disarm Hezbollah.[57][58][59] The remains of the two captured soldiers, whose fates were unknown, were returned to Israel on 16 July 2008 as part of a prisoner exchange.
Contents

1 Background
1.1 Abduction efforts in the year prior to conflict
2 Summary of the war
2.1 Hezbollah cross-border raid
2.2 Israeli response
2.3 Israeli air and artillery attacks
2.4 Hezbollah rocket attacks
2.5 Ground war
2.6 Position of Lebanon
2.7 Ceasefire
3 Techniques
3.1 Cluster and phosphorus munitions
3.2 Psychological warfare
4 Casualties and damage
4.1 Lebanese civilians and combatants
4.2 Hezbollah and other militias
4.2.1 Hezbollah commanders
4.3 Lebanese Armed Forces
4.4 Israeli civilians
4.5 Israel Defense Forces
4.6 Environmental and archeological damage
4.7 Industrial damage
5 Reactions
5.1 International action and reaction
5.2 Allegations, accusations and reports of war crimes
5.3 Media coverage
6 Reviews of the conflict
6.1 Lebanon
6.2 Israel
6.2.1 Winograd Commission report
6.3 International
6.4 Financial and political repercussions
7 Aftermath
7.1 Post-ceasefire events
7.2 Prisoner swap
7.3 In film
8 See also
9 References
10 Sources
11 External links

Background
Main article: Israeli–Lebanese conflict

Cross-border attacks from southern Lebanon into Israel by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) dated as far back as 1968, and followed the Six-Day War; the area became a significant base for attacks following the arrival of the PLO leadership and its Fatah brigade following their 1971 expulsion from Jordan. Starting about this time, increasing demographic tensions related to the Lebanese National Pact, which had divided governmental powers among religious groups throughout the country 30 years previously, began running high and led in part to the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990).

Concurrently, Syria began a 29-year military occupation in 1976. Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon failed to stem the Palestinian attacks in the long run, but Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 and forcibly expelled the PLO.[60] Israel withdrew to a borderland buffer zone in southern Lebanon, held with the aid of proxy militants in the South Lebanon Army (SLA).[61]

The invasion also led to the conception of a new Shi'a militant group, which in 1985, established itself politically under the name Hezbollah, and declared an armed struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory.[62][63] When the Lebanese Civil War ended and other warring factions agreed to disarm, both Hezbollah and the SLA refused. Ten years later, Israel withdrew from South Lebanon to the UN-designated and internationally recognized Blue Line border in 2000.[64]

The withdrawal also led to the immediate collapse of the SLA, and Hezbollah quickly took control of the area. Later, citing continued Israeli control of the Shebaa farms region and the internment of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah intensified its cross-border attacks, and used the tactic of seizing soldiers from Israel as leverage for a prisoner exchange in 2004.[65][66] All told, from summer 2000, after the Israeli withdrawal, until summer 2006, Hezbollah conducted approximately 200 attacks on Israel – most of them artillery fire, some raids and some via proxies inside Israel. In these attacks, including the attack that precipitated the Israeli response that developed into the war, 31 Israelis were killed and 104 were wounded.[citation needed]

In August 2006, in an article in The New Yorker, Seymour Hersh claimed that the White House gave the green light for the Israeli government to execute an attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon. Supposedly, communication between the Israeli government and the US government about this came as early as two months in advance of the capture of two Israeli soldiers and the killing of eight others by Hezbollah prior to the conflict in July 2006.[67] The US government denied these claims.[68]

According to Conal Urquhart in The Guardian, the Winograd Committee leaked a testimony from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert suggesting that Olmert "had been preparing for such a war at least four months before the official casus belli: the capture by Hezbollah of two Israeli soldiers from a border post on 12 July 2006."[69]
Abduction efforts in the year prior to conflict

In June 2005, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) paratroop unit operating near the Shebaa Farms engaged three Lebanese it identified as Hezbollah special force members, killing one. Videotapes recovered by the paratroopers contained footage of the three recording detailed accounts of the area.[70]

Over the following 12 months, Hezbollah made three unsuccessful attempts to abduct Israeli soldiers. On 21 November 2005, a number of Hezbollah special forces attempted to attack an Israeli outpost in Ghajar, a village straddling the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights. The outpost had been deserted following an intelligence warning, and three of the Hezbollah militants were killed when Israeli sniper David Markovich shot a rocket-propelled grenade they were carrying, causing it to explode. From his sniper position, Markovich shot and killed a fourth gunman shortly thereafter.[70][71]
Summary of the war
Main article: Timeline of the 2006 Lebanon War
Further information: Military operations of the 2006 Lebanon War and Timeline of military operations in the 2006 Lebanon War
Hezbollah cross-border raid
Main article: 2006 Hezbollah cross-border raid
The cross-border raid map

At around 9 AM 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[72] as well as on the Israeli town of Shlomi and other villages.[73] Five civilians were injured.[74] Six Israeli military positions were fired on, and the surveillance cameras knocked out.[75]

At the same time, a Hezbollah ground contingent infiltrated the border into Israel through a "dead zone" in the border fence, hiding in an overgrown wadi. They attacked a patrol of two Israeli Humvees patrolling the border near Zar'it, using pre-positioned explosives and anti-tank missiles, killing three soldiers, injuring two, and capturing two soldiers (First Sergeant Ehud Goldwasser and Sergeant First Class Eldad Regev).[72][76]

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.[72][75]

Hezbollah named the attack "Operation Truthful Promise" after leader Hassan Nasrallah's public pledges over the prior year and a half to seize Israeli soldiers and swap them for four Lebanese held by Israel:

Samir Kuntar (a Lebanese citizen captured during an attack in 1979, convicted of murdering civilians and a police officer);
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);[77][78]
Ali Faratan (another Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah claimed to be held in Israel, believed to have been shot at sea.).[79]

Nasrallah claimed that Israel had broken a previous deal to release these prisoners, and since diplomacy had failed, violence was the only remaining option.[77] Nasrallah declared that "no military operation will result in rescuing these prisoners... The only method, as I indicated, is that of indirect negotiations and a swap [of prisoners]".[77]
Israeli response

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the seizure of the soldiers as an "act of war" by the sovereign state of Lebanon,[80][81] stating that "Lebanon will bear the consequences of its actions"[82] and promising a "very painful and far-reaching response."[83] Israel blamed the Lebanese government for the raid, as it was carried out from Lebanese territory.[84] Hezbollah had two ministers serving in the Lebanese cabinet at that time.[citation needed]

In response, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied any knowledge of the raid and stated that he did not condone it.[85][86] An emergency meeting of the Lebanese government reaffirmed this position.[87]

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.[88] 44 civilians were killed.[2] The Israeli Air Force also targeted Hezbollah's long range rocket and missile stockpiles destroying many of them on the ground in the first days of the war.[89][90] Many of Hezbollah's longer-range rocket launchers were destroyed within the first hours of the Israeli attack.[75]

Later that same day (12 July 2006), the Cabinet decided to authorize the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and their deputies to pursue the plan which they had proposed for action within Lebanon. Prime Minister Olmert officially demanded that the Israel Defense Forces avoid civilian casualties whenever possible.[91] Israel's chief of staff Dan Halutz said, "if the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years"[92] 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."[92]

On 12 July 2006, the Israeli Cabinet promised that Israel would "respond aggressively and harshly to those who carried out, and are responsible for, today's action".[93] The Cabinet's communiqué stated, in part, that the "Lebanese Government [was] responsible for the action that originated on its soil."[93] 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.[94]

On 16 July, the Israeli Cabinet released a communiqué explaining that, although Israel had engaged in military operations within Lebanon, its war was not against the Lebanese government. The communiqué stated: "Israel is not fighting Lebanon but the terrorist element there, led by Nasrallah and his cohorts, who have made Lebanon a hostage and created Syrian- and Iranian-sponsored terrorist enclaves of murder."[95]

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."[96]
Israeli air and artillery attacks
See also: Dahiya doctrine
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 before and "after". Archived from the original on 21 August 2007.
A building in Ghazieh, 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 Ya'tar. Five bridges across the Litani and Zahrani rivers were also destroyed, reportedly to prevent Hezbollah from transferring the abducted soldiers to the north.[97]

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.[98][99] 44 civilians were killed throughout the day.[2]

It was later reported that the Israel Air Force after midnight, 13 July, attacked and destroyed 59 stationary medium range Fajr rocket launchers positioned throughout southern Lebanon. Operation Density allegedly only took 34 minutes to carry out but was the result of six years of intelligence gathering and planning. Between half and two-thirds of Hezbollah medium range rocket capability was estimated by the IDF to have been wiped out. According to Israeli journalists Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff the operation was "Israel's most impressive military action" and a "devastating blow for Hezbollah". In the coming days IAF allegedly also attacked and destroyed a large proportion of Hezbollah's long range Zelzal-2 missiles.[100]

"All the long-range rockets have been destroyed," Chief of Staff Halutz allegedly told the Israeli government, "we've won the war."[101]

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".[102] 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.[103] Anthony Cordesman believed that IAF probably destroyed most long and medium range missiles in the first two days of the war but acknowledged that these claims "have never been validated or described in detail."[104]

Hezbollah long remained silent on this episode of the war. On the sixth anniversary of the Lebanon war Hezbollah chairman Hassan Nasrallah claimed that Hezbollah had known that the Israelis were collecting information on the rocket platforms and launchers and managed to move them without being detected. Most of the locations attacked by the Israeli air force were therefore empty.[105]

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 23 tons of bombs on its alleged headquarters bunker.[106] 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.[107]
Areas in Lebanon targeted by Israeli bombing, 12 July to 13 August 2006

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 First Lebanon War (6,052).[108]

The Israeli artillery fired 170,000 shells, more than twice the number fired in the 1973 October War.[109] 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.[110]

The Israeli Navy fired 2,500 shells.[111]

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.[112]

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.[113] 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.[114]

Large parts of the Lebanese civilian infrastructure, however, were destroyed, including 400 miles (640 km) 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.[115][116][117][118]
Hezbollah rocket attacks
Map showing some of the localities in Israel and the Golan Heights hit by rockets fired from Lebanese soil as of Monday 7 August.
Structural damage of a residential building in Kiryat Shmona after being hit by a rocket
Hezbollah fighters preparing to launch Multiple Rocket Volley from a mobile platform

On 16 July, eight employees of the Israel Railways were killed by direct rocket hits on the Haifa train depot.[51] Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah defended the attacks, saying that Hezbollah initially had aimed its rockets on "military sites only". But since Israel, he said, had systematically bombed civilian targets he felt that Hezbollah had no choice but to answer in kind and target Israeli cities.[119]

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 July, 14. 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.[120]

Hezbollah TV station al-Manar warned both in Arabic and Hebrew specific Israeli communities for future rocket attacks.[121] Similarly Hezbollah sent text messages to warn Israeli residents to evacuate their homes to avoid being targeted by rocket attacks.[122]

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.[123]

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.[124][125] About 95% of these were 122 mm (4.8 in) Katyusha artillery rockets, which carried warheads up to 30 kg (66 lb) and had a range of up to 30 km (19 mi).[125][126] An estimated 23% of these rockets hit cities and built-up areas across northern Israel, while the remainder hit open areas.[111][124][125]

Cities hit were Haifa, Hadera, Nazareth, Tiberias, Nahariya, Safed, Shaghur, Afula, Kiryat Shmona, Beit She'an, Karmiel, Acre, and Ma'alot-Tarshiha, as well as dozens of towns, kibbutzim, moshavim, and Druze and Israeli-Arab villages. The northern West Bank was also hit.[111][124][125][127][128][129][130]

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.[125]

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.[131]

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 war time instruction to media stated that "The Military Censor will not approve reports on missile hits at IDF bases and/or strategic facilities."[132] 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 12 soldiers and wounded several others. Initially Israel did not confirm that the victims were military but eventually relented.

6 August, two elderly Arab women in Haifa were killed, and an Arab man was mortally wounded, by Hezbollah rocket fire.[51] The day after Hezbollah leader Nasrallah appealed to Haifa's Arab community to leave the city so as not be hurt.[133]

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.[134] 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.[135] 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.[136][137][138]
Ground war
An Israeli soldier tosses a grenade into a Hezbollah bunker
IDF Caterpillar D9N armored bulldozers destroy a Hezbollah bunker.
War map, "Hezbollah Defensive System in Southern Lebanon", 2006

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."[139]

During engagements with the IDF, Hezbollah concentrated on inflicting losses on the IDF, believing an unwillingness to absorb steady losses to be Israel's strategic weakness.[140]

Hezbollah countered IDF armor through the use of sophisticated Russian-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.[111]

The IDF declared itself satisfied with the Merkava Mark IV's performance during the war. Hezbollah caused additional casualties using ATGMs to collapse buildings onto Israeli troops sheltering inside.[111] As a result, IDF units did not linger in any one area for an extended period of time.[139] Hezbollah fighters often used tunnels to emerge quickly, fire an anti-tank missile, and then disappear again.[139]

On July 19 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.[141]
Position of Lebanon
Main article: Position of Lebanon in the 2006 Lebanon War
See also: Siniora Plan and Foreign relations of Lebanon
Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora

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.[86]

In interviews, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud criticized Israel's attacks and was supportive of Hezbollah, noting Hezbollah's role in ending Israel's previous occupation of southern Lebanon.[142][143] 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.[144]

Israel never declared war on Lebanon,[145][146] and said it only attacked Lebanese governmental institutions which it suspected of being used by Hezbollah.[147] The Lebanese government played a role in shaping the conflict. On 14 July 2006, the office of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora issued a statement that called on US President George W. Bush to exert all his efforts on Israel to stop its attacks in Lebanon and reach a comprehensive ceasefire.[148] In a televised speech the next day, Siniora called for "an immediate ceasefire backed by the United Nations."[citation needed]

A US-French draft resolution that was influenced by the Lebanese Siniora Plan and which contained provisions for Israeli withdrawal, military actions, and mutual prisoner release was rejected by the US and Israel. Many Lebanese accused the US government of stalling the ceasefire resolution and of support of Israel's attacks. In a poll conducted two weeks into the conflict, only 8% of the respondents felt that the US would support Lebanon, while 87% supported Hezbollah's fight against Israel.[149] 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."[150]

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.[151] 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."[152] 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.[153]
Ceasefire
Further information: Ceasefire attempts during the 2006 Lebanon War
Israeli soldiers of the Nahal Brigade 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,[154] while Israel insisted upon a conditional ceasefire, including the return of the two seized soldiers.[155] 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.[156]

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.[157]

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,[158] 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.[159]
Techniques
Cluster and phosphorus munitions
See also: Convention on Cluster Munitions

Both sides used cluster bombs during the conflict. Israel fired 4.6 million submunitions into dozens of towns and villages in southern Lebanon in 962 separate strikes, circa 90% within the final 72 hours of the war, when the conflict already had been largely resolved by UN Security Council Resolution 1701.[160] Entire towns were covered in cluster bombs. The unguided and imprecise rockets were fired from mobile rocket launching platforms. To compensate for the inaccuracy of the rockets, the areas were flooded with munitions.[161] Israel claimed to have warned civilians prior to a strike, and that firing was limited to open areas or military targets inside urban areas.[162] Israel used advanced cluster munitions produced by Israel Military Industries, and large numbers of older cluster bombs, some produced in the 1970s, purchased from aging American stockpiles. These were fired by multiple rocket launchers, 155mm artillery guns, and dropped by aircraft. As many as 1 million submunitions failed to explode on impact, lingering as land mines that killed or maimed almost 200 people since the war ended.[163] As of 2011, munitions were still causing casualties and being cleared by volunteers.[164]

Hezbollah fired 4,407 submunitions into civilian-populated areas of northern Israel in 113 separate strikes, using Chinese made Type-81 122mm rockets, and Type-90 submunitions. These attacks killed one civilian and wounded twelve.[165]

According to Human Rights Watch, in the last 72 hours of the war, the Israeli army flooded the region with cluster bombs.[160] Human Rights Watch "found that the IDF's use of cluster munitions was both indiscriminate and disproportionate, in violation of IHL, and in some locations possibly a war crime" because "the vast majority [were dropped] over the final three days when Israel knew a settlement was imminent."[160] After the ceasefire, parts of southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to Israeli unexploded cluster bomblets.[166]

Also phosphorus shells were used by the IDF to attack civilian areas in Lebanon.[167] The shells were originally designed to generate a smoke screen in a battlefield situation, but white phosphor is also especially harmful to humans because its burning will continue inside the flesh. The shelling was investigated as a violation of international law.[168]
Psychological warfare
See also: Psychological warfare, Information warfare, and Disinformation

During the war, the IAF dropped 17,000 leaflets over Lebanon in 47 missions, and sent more than 700,000 computerized voice messages. Many of them contained caricatures of Hassan Nasrallah and Hezbollah leading Lebanon to ruin and making civilians suffer, showing them as puppets of Iran and Syria, and calling on civilians to help remove Hezbollah. Another leaflet addressing Hezbollah fighters told them that they were lied to by their leaders, that they were "sent like sheep to be butchered, lacking military training and without proper combat gear", that they could not hope to face "highly trained soldiers that fight to protect their homeland, their people, and their home", referring to them as "mercenaries" without the support of the Lebanese public, and urging them to run and save their lives. On 26 July, Israel dropped leaflets containing illustrations of nine tombstones with the name of a dead Hezbollah fighter on each one, in response to Nasrallah "deceiving" people on the amount of Hezbollah casualties. Another leaflet urged Hezbollah fighters to stop bleeding and fighting for Nasrallah, who sat safe in a bunker, to stop fighting against Lebanese national interests, and to return to their homes and families. On 11 August, Israel dropped leaflets accusing Hezbollah of hiding its "great losses", and containing the names of 90–100 Hezbollah fighters killed. Israeli technicians also hacked into Al-Manar and broadcast clips, criticizing Nasrallah, showing the bodies of Hezbollah fighters, footage from Israeli raids and airstrikes, and captured Hezbollah equipment.[169]
Casualties and damage
Main article: Casualties of the 2006 Lebanon War
Lebanese civilians and combatants
Lebanese IDPs in south Lebanon, 2006

The Lebanese civilian death toll is difficult to pinpoint as most published figures, including those released by the Lebanese government, do not distinguish between civilians and Hezbollah combatants.[24] In addition, Hezbollah fighters can be difficult to identify as many do not wear military uniforms.[24] However, it has been widely reported that the majority of the Lebanese killed were civilians, and UNICEF estimated that 30% of Lebanese killed were children under the age of 13.[170] The Lebanese top police office and the Lebanon Ministry of Health, citing hospitals, death certificates, local authorities, and eye witnesses, put the death toll at 1,123—37 soldiers and police officers, 894 identified victims, and 192 unidentified ones.[24] The Lebanon Higher Relief Council (HRC) put the Lebanese death toll at 1,191,[50] citing the health ministry and police, as well as other state agencies.[24] The Associated Press estimated the figure at 1,035.[24] In February 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that at least 800 Lebanese had died during fighting,[171] and other articles have estimated the figure to be at least 850.[172][173] Encarta states that "estimates ... varied from about 850 to 1,200" in its entry on Israel,[174] while giving a figure of "more than 1,200" in its entry on Lebanon.[175] The Lebanon Higher Relief Council estimated the number of Lebanese injured to be 4,409,[50] 15% of whom were permanently disabled.[176]

The death toll estimates do not include Lebanese killed since the end of fighting by land mines or unexploded Israeli cluster bombs.[24] Between the end of the war and November 2008, approximately 40 people were killed and over 270 injured by cluster bombs.[177]
Hezbollah and other militias

During the war Hezbollah kept a firm lid on its casualties. Although it did announce casualty numbers in some of the clashes, the party did not publish a comprehensive estimate for the duration of the war. A tally made by Associated Press counted to 70 dead Hezbollah fighters officially acknowledged by party during the war.[20]

On 6 August Haaretz reported the IDF placing the number of Hezbollah fighters killed at 400, but added that "armies fighting guerrilla forces tend to exaggerate the fatalities of the enemy".[178] Matt M. Matthews military historian at United States Army Combined Arms Center, also described these figures as "highly exaggerated" because he asserts that Hezbollah suffered only 187 casualties.[179]

A 4 August 2006 Daily Telegraph article by Con Coughlin, referring to estimates by Lebanese officials, said that up to 500 Hezbollah fighters had been killed and 1,500 wounded. According to the article, many of Hezbollah's wounded were secretly evacuated to hospitals in Syria through the Al-Arissa Border Crossing. A later article by the Daily Telegraph said that funerals of fallen Hezbollah fighters were "staggered" and were interred without ceremony for re-burial later. Coughlin quoted a senior Lebanese security official as saying that "Hizbollah is desperate to conceal its casualties because it wants to give the impression that it is winning its war. People might reach a very different conclusion if they knew the true extent of Hizbollah's casualties." According to the article, Hezbollah's operational council had drawn up casualty lists to be sent to Iran, as the Iranian government compensated the families of Hezbollah's dead, and that Hezbollah had pressured Lebanese newspapers that had obtained copies not to publish them.[180][181] Historian John Keegan wrote in an op-ed that "perhaps as many as 1,000" Hezbollah fighters were killed.[182] A Stratfor report cited "sources in Lebanon" as estimating the Hezbollah death toll at "more than 700 fighters with many more to go",[183] Intelligence analysts Alastair Crooke and Mark Perry reported a few months after the war a total of 184 "Shiite martyr funerals" having been held in Lebanon since the war. They considered this number an indication of Hezbollah fatalities but warned that it could be revised upward in the future.[184]

IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Yaakov Amidror said that IDF had identified the names of 440 members of Hezbollah who were killed in the war. Based on this number he estimated that the total amounted killed in the war to between 500 and 700.[185] Later, Israel claimed to have identified 532 dead Hezbollah fighters and estimated that an additional 200 were killed.[186]

Four months after the end of the war the deputy chairman of the Hezbollah Political Council Mahmoud Qomati substantially raised the official estimate of the number of Hezbollah fatalities. He now claimed that 250 fighters had been killed in the war.[20][187] Israel meanwhile also backed down from its war-time estimates. Instead of the 800 Hezbollah fatalities said during the war, Israeli government spokesperson Miri Eisin in December revised that estimate, saying, "We think that it's closer to 600."[187] Three years after the outbreak of war the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a summary of the war which concluded that over 600 Hezbollah fighters were killed in the war.[188]

Hezbollah claimed that many of Hezbollah's dead were local village fighters rather than regulars. However, according to one analyst, who noted that general estimates place Hezbollah's losses at around 500–600 fighters out of a regular fighting force of 2,000, "this was mainly party propaganda attempting to put a brave face on what was by any measure a major blow to the resistance," and claimed that Hezbollah subsequently went on a recruitment drive to replace its losses.[189]

According to the Yedioth Ahronoth "Encyclopedia" of the Second Lebanon War, the main reason for the discrepancy between Lebanese and Israeli estimates of the number of Hezbollah fatalities during the war (700 and 300 respectively) was that the former included only Hezbollah combatants while the latter also included civilian members of Hezbollah.[190] The NGO Human Rights Watch argued that in 94 IDF air, artillery, and ground attacks during the war that claimed the lives of 561 persons, that only 51 of these were combatants and about half of them were women or children.[191] HRW said it documented the identities of another 548 fatalities, bringing the total of identified Lebanese deaths in the war to 1109. It argued (as an extrapolation from those 94 attacks) that an estimated 250 of these were Hezbollah combatants and the remaining 860 were civilians.[192]

The Amal movement, a Shiite militia that fought alongside Hezbollah, suffered 17 dead. Armed elements of the Lebanese Communist Party suffered 12 dead. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, a Palestinian militia, lost two fighters in an Israeli air raid.[2] There are also unconfirmed reports that a number of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were killed in the fighting.[26][27][193] A statement issued by the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the war detailed what it termed "Iranian complicity" in the Lebanese crisis, which included training and supplying Hezbollah forces.[194]
Hezbollah commanders

Hezbollah General-Secretary Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with New TV August shortly after the war that between 10 and 12 Hezbollah commanders were killed in the war. None of the first or second levels of the leadership were harmed. Three commanders of the third level however were killed; an operations officer in the Bint Jbeil axis, a logistics officer and a third commander involved in the military side of the party. In addition three or four town commanders and four or five village commanders were killed in the war.[195]

Nasrallah did not mention any names but some of these were subsequently identified. Squad leader Muhammad Dimashq (nome de guerre: Jawad Ayta) was shot 21 July, by an Israeli sniper in the battle of Maroun ar-Ras.[196] Two Hezbollah commanders were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Old City of Bint Jbeil July, 29. Khalid Bazzi (nome de guerre: al-Hajj Qasim) was chief of operations in the Bint Jbeil area, including Maroun al-Ras, Aynata, Aytaroun and Bint Jbeil, while Muhammad Abu Ta'am was commander of the forces in the town itself. Both had taken part in the abduction of the two Israeli soldiers that had started the war.[197] On the last day of the war, Muhammad Qansuh (nome de guerre: Sajid ad-Duwayr), a special force commander and Bazzi’s successor as Bint Jbeil commander, was killed in another air raid on Bint Jbeil.[198][199] According to the IDF, he was in fact killed in an airstrike on the Dahiya district of Beirut.[200]

Two Hezbollah commanders were killed in battles around Wadi Hujeir/Wadi Sulouqi. Rani Adnan Bazzi died in hand-to-hand combat, together with seven of his men, in the strategic town of al-Ghandouriya, controlling the strategic wadi crossing. A further three fighters were wounded in the battle and one of them were taken prisoner by the IDF.[201] Commander Ali Mahmoud Salih (nome de guerre: Bilal) fought singlehandedly further up the wadi, firing ATGM rockets at the advancing Israeli tanks. In the end he was severely wounded by a drone strike and died some time later from his wounds. [202]
Lebanese Armed Forces

Though rarely engaged in combat, 43 Lebanese soldiers and policemen were killed.[2]
Israeli civilians
Israeli civilians killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks, 12 July – 13 August 2006 (black)
vs. the ethnic composition at the North of Israel (pink).[203]

Hezbollah rockets and mortars killed 44 Israeli civilians during the conflict, including a severely wounded Haifa resident who died from his wounds more than a year after the war. In addition four elderly died of heart attacks during rocket attacks.[204] At least 19 of the 46 Israeli civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets and mortars were Israeli Arabs (mainly Sunni Muslims).[205][206] The last civilian victim was an Israeli-Arab man who died on 30 August 2007, from injuries sustained in a rocket attack on Haifa.[207] In addition, 4,262 civilians were injured–33 seriously wounded, 68 moderately, 1,388 lightly, and 2,773 suffered from shock and anxiety.[51] According to Human Rights Watch, "These bombs may have killed 'only' 43 civilians, but that says more about the availability of warning systems and bomb shelters throughout most of Northern Israel and the evacuation of more than 350,000 people than it does about Hezbollah's intentions."[208]
Israel Defense Forces

A total of 121 IDF soldiers were killed in the war, including the two soldiers who were seized in the cross-border raid that started the war. Their fates were not confirmed until their bodies were exchanged for Lebanese prisoners in 2008.[51][204]

Matériel losses in the Israeli Defense Forces accounted for 5[209] to 20[210] tanks depending in the source. 5 Aircraft were lost, 3 Helicopters to accidents, 1 helicopter to a Hezbollah missile fire and 1 F-16 lost during take off.[211][212][213][214][215] 5 tanks were damaged beyond repair ('lasting vehicle kills', 22 tanks received armor penetrations, and 52 tanks suffered some form of damage.[216][217][218] other sources claim 20 main battle tanks destroyed (6 to mines, 14 to anti tanks guided missiles- all Merkava II,III or IV).[219]

In July 14, a Hezbollah operated C-802 anti-ship misile struck a Israeli Navy gunship killing 4 sailors and damaging the warship.[220]

INS Hanit was damaged on the waterline, under the aft superstructure[221][222] by a missile (likely a Chinese-designed C-802[223]) fired by Hezbollah that reportedly set the flight deck on fire and crippled the propulsion systems inside the hull.[224] However, INS Hanit stayed afloat, withdrew and made the rest of the journey back to Ashdod port for repairs under its own power.[225] Four crew members were killed during the attack: Staff Sergeant Tal Amgar, Corporal Shai Atas, Sergeant Yaniv Hershkovitz, and First Sergeant Dov Steinshuss.[226]
Environmental and archeological damage
See also: Jiyeh power station oil spill
Image from space showing Jiyyeh oil slick in darkest blue, picture centered on Beirut. The largest oil spill in the history of the Mediterranean, it was caused by an Israeli air strike on Jiyeh power station[227] 10 August 2006
A burnt forest in northern Israel caused by Hezbollah rockets

On 13 July 2006, and again on 15 July 2006, the Israeli Air Force bombed the Jiyeh power station, 30 km (19 mi) south of Beirut, resulting in the largest ever oil spill in the Mediterranean Sea.[227] The plant's damaged storage tanks leaked an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 tonnes (more than 4 million gallons) of oil into the eastern Mediterranean.[227][228] A 10 km (6 mi) wide oil slick covered 170 km (105 statute miles) of coastline,[229][230] and threatened Turkey and Cyprus. The slick killed fish including the Atlantic bluefin tuna, a species already nearing extinction in the Mediterranean, and threatened the habitat of the endangered green sea turtle.[231] It also potentially increased the risk of cancer in humans. An additional 25,000 tons of oil burned at the power station, creating a "toxic cloud" that rained oil downwind.[227] The Lebanese government estimated it would take 10 years to recover from the damage of the strike. The UN estimated the cost for the initial clean-up at $64 million.[52]

Hezbollah rocket attacks caused numerous forest fires inside northern Israel, particularly on the Naftali mountain range near Kiryat Shmona.[232] As many as 16,500 acres (67 km² of land, including forests and grazing fields, were destroyed by Hezbollah rockets.[233] The Jewish National Fund estimated that it would take 50 to 60 years to rehabilitate the forests.[234]

Israeli bombing also caused significant damage to the world heritage sites of Tyre and Byblos. In Tyre a Roman tomb was damaged and a fresco near the centre of the site collapsed. In Byblos, a medieval tower was damaged and Venetian period remains near the harbour were dramatically stained by the oil slick and were considered to be difficult to clean. Damage was also caused to remains at Bint Jbeil and Chamaa, and to the Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek.[235][236][237][238]
Industrial damage
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Damage to various industries occurred during the war. This includes the country's largest dairy farm Liban Lait in the Bekka area, the Maliban Glassworks in Tannayel, Dalal Industries (a factory which produces prefabricated homes),[239] a dealership for Procter & Gamble,[240] two electricity transformers in south Lebanon cutting off power to the city of Tyre[241] and fuel tanks of an oil-fired power station in Jiyeh.[242] A report from the Lebanese Council for Development and Reconstruction (CDR) said that the IDF bombing campaign had destroyed more than 900 small and medium enterprises with damage to Lebanon's civilian infrastructure estimated close to $2.5 billion US. The material damage to the private sector was estimated at $200 million with an anticipated increase in that figure due to cancelled contracts.[243]

Other repair and rebuilding costs resulting from the bombing include power supplies ($208m), telecoms ($99m), water ($74m) and military installations ($16m). The Lebanese national airline, MEA, had also been grounded for the duration of the conflict. Agricultural activity, particularly in south Lebanon, was abandoned due to the fighting and bombing of the irrigation system.[244] Tourism, which accounts for 15% of Lebanon's GDP, has been severely disrupted by the conflict. Damage to communal and business infrastructure, the Israeli-imposed sea and air blockade and continued instability is preventing and deterring tourists. Foreign visitors had been expected to bring in $2.5 to $3 billion US during 2006.[244]

IDF bombing has damaged irrigation canals, open water channels, and underground water diversion pipes which run Litani River water to more than 10,000 acres (40 km² of farmland, villages in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley. These attacks have been criticised as an attempt to "lay claim to Lebanon's prime watersheds". Attacks on the Litani Dam were also criticised. Israeli officials explained the damage to the water infrastructures was unintentional and collateral to attacks on roads and bridges used by Hezbollah.[245]

The international journalists' representative body, Reporters without Borders, reported that, to its knowledge, the IDF had damaged transmitting equipment in the Satka area of Beirut and reduced the premises of Al Manar to ruins.[246] The IDF contend that the Al-Manar TV facilities which they bombed represent the propaganda arm of Hezbollah and were a legitimate target for the IDF military. Reporters Without Borders disputes this saying that the station "cannot be viewed as [a] military" target.[247] A statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry read: "The Al-Manar station has for many years served as the main tool for propaganda and incitement by Hezbollah, and has also helped the organization recruit people into its ranks.”[246] The Committee to Protect Journalists responded by saying: "While Al-Manar may serve a propaganda function for Hezbollah, it does not appear based on a monitoring of its broadcasts today to be serving any discernible military function".[246]
Reactions
International action and reaction
Main articles: Foreign involvement in the 2006 Lebanon War and International reactions to the 2006 Lebanon War
Further information: Humanitarian aid during the 2006 Lebanon War
Israel Solidarity Rally in Los Angeles
A Lebanese protest in Sydney

The governments of the United States,[248] United Kingdom, Germany,[249] Australia, and Canada asserted Israel's right to self-defense. The United States government further responded by authorizing Israel's request for expedited shipment of precision-guided bombs, but did not announce the decision publicly.[250] United States President George W. Bush said he thought the conflict was part of the "War on Terrorism".[251][252] On 20 July 2006, the United States Congress voted overwhelmingly to support Israel's "right to defend itself".[253]

Among neighboring Middle Eastern nations, Iran, Syria, and Yemen voiced strong support for Hezbollah, while the Arab League, Egypt, and Jordan issued statements criticizing Hezbollah's actions[254] and declaring support for Lebanon.[255] Saudi Arabia found Hezbollah entirely responsible.[256] Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed with the Saudi stance that Hezbollah's actions were "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts."[255]

Many worldwide protests and demonstrations appealed for an immediate ceasefire on both sides and expressed concern for the heavy loss of civilian life on all sides. Other demonstrations were held exclusively in favor of Lebanon or Israel. Numerous newspaper advertising campaigns, SMS and email appeals, and online petitions also occurred.[257][258]

Various foreign governments assisted the evacuation of their citizens from Lebanon.[259]
Allegations, accusations and reports of war crimes
Main article: Allegations of war crimes in the 2006 Lebanon War
See also: International incidents during the 2006 Lebanon War

Under international humanitarian law, warring parties are obliged to distinguish between combatants and civilians, ensure that attacks on legitimate military targets are proportional, and guarantee that the military advantage of such attacks outweigh the possible harm done to civilians.[260] Violations of these laws are considered war crimes. Various groups and individuals accused both Israel and Hezbollah of violations of these laws during the conflict, and warned of possible war crimes.[261] These allegations included intentional attacks on civilian populations or infrastructure, disproportionate or indiscriminate attacks, the use of human shields, and the use of prohibited weapons. No formal charges have been filed against either group.[262]

Amnesty International called on both Hezbollah and Israel to end attacks on civilian areas during the conflict,[263] and criticized attacks against civilian villages and infrastructure by Israel.[264] They also highlighted IDF use of white phosphorus shells in Lebanon.[161][265][266] Human Rights Watch accused both parties of failing to distinguish between civilians and combatants, violating the principle of distinction, and committing war crimes.[260][267][268] Peter Bouckaert, a senior emergencies researcher for Human Rights Watch, stated that Hezbollah was "directly targeting civilians ... their aim is to kill Israeli civilians" and that Israel had not taken "the necessary precautions to distinguish between civilian and military targets."[269][270] They criticized Hezbollah's use of unguided Katyusha rockets, and Israel's use of unreliable cluster bombs – both too close to civilians areas – suggesting that they may have deliberately targeted civilians.[260][271] UN humanitarian chief Jan Egeland said Israel's response violated international humanitarian law, and criticized Hezbollah for "cowardly blending... among women and children."[272] He also called Israel's use of over 100,000 cluster bombs "immoral". According to Egeland, 90% of such bombs were launched by Israel in the last 3 days of combat, when it was known that a UN resolution was on its way.[273]
IAF targeting a Katyusha rocket launcher

Israel said that it tried to avoid civilians, and had distributed leaflets calling on civilian residents to evacuate,[274] but that Hezbollah stored weapons in and fired from civilian areas, making those areas legitimate targets,[275] and used civilians as human shields.[276][277][278][279] Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch found cases where Hezbollah did fire rockets from, and store weapons in, populated areas and deploy its forces among the civilian population; howe