DEBKAfile - Lebanon War Diary

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Lebanon War Diary

Found 48 headlines

Israeli jets focus on six Hizballah targets Saturday in S. Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and on the Lebanese Mediterranean coast

July 17, 2006, 1:34 PM (GMT+02:00)

In the S. Beirut suburb of Dahya, the Hizballah’s command and communications compound was pounded; in the Beqaa Valley, Israeli warplanes raided Hizballah weapons stores, command posts, training camps and logistic centers. A Katyusha launch squad was struck. Also singled out for demolition were Lebanese army radar stations in the ports of Tripoli, Junya, Beirut and Sidon, which guided to target the Iran-made C-802 missile that struck the Israeli warship off Beirut Friday, July 14.
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Israeli chief of staff Lt.-Gen Dan Halutz promised Israeli population the stay in shelters will be as short as possible

July 17, 2006, 1:33 PM (GMT+02:00)

At a news conference marking 60 hours into the Lebanese crisis, Halutz said: Thus far Hizballah has fired rockets of 30km range, but they have in their arsenal rockets that can strike within a radius of up to 70km and maybe further. The chief of staff did not expect Syria and Iran to intervene directly in the military campaign.

As far as he knew, the three Israeli soldiers taken hostage are alive and in reasonable health. But he had no details.
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Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah speaks minutes after Israeli chief of staff

July 17, 2006, 1:32 PM (GMT+02:00)

He called off the Haifa-for-Beirut ultimatum laid down by his organization Thursday as no longer relevant. “We shall hit Haifa and much beyond,” he threatened.He also threatened to set fire to all Israel’s missile vessels. As he spoke a missile boat sailing opposite Beirut was struck from the shore. The crew suffered no injuries. The blaze was extinguished and the boat carried on with its mission.

DEBKA file: Hizballah fire rocket on Israeli Merom Hagolan situated on the Golan Saturday as a maneuver to entangle Syria in the conflict

July 17, 2006, 1:32 PM (GMT+02:00)

The Shiite terrorist group also spread false reports of Israeli air strikes on the Syrian side of the Lebanese border. Damascus resisted Hizballah’s ruse and firmly denied the report - as did Israel.

Hizballah fires some 100 rockets deep into northern Israel Saturday, leaving 60 injured on fourth day of war

July 17, 2006, 1:30 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli commanders count a total of 760 fired since Wednesday night, out of an estimated Hizballah arsenal of 13,000 rockets of different types and ranges, which the IDF is seeking out to destroy. The Lebanon campaign may therefore be a long haul, lasting weeks rather than days. (Picture of Tiberias hit by 12 rockets)
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Found 48 articles

After Losing Bint Jubeil, Hizballah Avoids Frontal Encounters, Switches to Guerrilla Tactics

July 25, 2006, 1:59 PM (GMT+02:00)

After overwhelming the Hizballah stronghold of Bin Jubeil in southern Lebanon Tuesday July 25, Israeli armed ground forces and tanks are preparing to sweep forward to sanitize the town’s satellites. Israel lost two tank personnel: 1st Lieutenant Lotan Slavin, 21 from Moshav Hatzeva, and 1st Sgt Kobi Smileg, 20, from Rehovot. Hizballah is reported by IDF sources to have lost 100-120 Hizballah fighters. But the operation did not help reduce the rocket fire against Israel. Hizballah saw they cannot stand up to the superior firepower leveled against them by a combination of Israeli tanks, special operations units and air force. Therefore fighters in the south have been instructed to discontinue face-to-face combat with Israeli troops and take to guerrilla warfare from woods, forests, dry river beds, and fruit orchards.
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Hizballah Brings Iwo Jima Tactics to Baffle Israeli Forces in South Lebanon

July 24, 2006, 12:46 PM (GMT+02:00)

Israeli forces have pushed forward from the mountaintop village of Maroun er Ras captured Sunday to the fringes of Bint Jubeil, Hizballah’s south Lebanese capital. Monday they suffered nine wounded in face to face combat. Whereas TV cameras showed much footage of the Maroun er Ras engagement, the IDF’s other battle pockets are kept under wraps. Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who has an overall view, warned Israel in an interview to the Lebanese A Safir Monday, July 24, that its ground incursions in Lebanon would not stop Hizballah rocket fire against its cities. Notwithstanding the IDF’s important battle gains at a number of focal South Lebanese points in the last 24 hours – including the latest raids on the outskirts of Bint Jubeil on the heels of the capture of Maroun er Ras – only one multiple firing rocket launcher (picture) and 6 single-barrel launchers have been destroyed. Last week, Israel’s army chiefs believed they had encountered Hizballah’s primary war tactic – Viet Cong-style guerrilla warfare out of hundreds of small bunkers scattered across the country. This week had scarcely begun when a still more formidable impediment was discovered: Hizballah camouflage techniques borrowed from the Japanese in the 1945 Iwo Jima battle.
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Washington Expected an IDF Grand Slam to Dispose of Hizballah

July 23, 2006, 6:22 PM (GMT+02:00)

US officials are not yet saying so out loud, but in private and “on condition of anonymity,” White House circles are signaling disappointment. It arises from the expectation that the Israeli Defense Forces, the most effective Middle East army, would dispose of Hassan Nasrallah and his Hizballah in a few days, presenting the Bush administration and Sunni Muslim Arab rulers with a dearly hoped-for smash victory against Islamic fundamentalist terrorists. Now, after 12 days of Israeli air, sea and ground assaults, it is beginning to look as though it will take a long, sustained effort to break Hizballah. America is willing to fight in Lebanon to the last Israeli soldier, just as Iran is ready to fight to the last Hizballah combatant. But Israel and its armed forces must pursue their own national agenda which is to cripple the Hizballah and inflict a defeat on Tehran, both of whom are sworn to destroy the Jewish state.
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The Lebanon War Is Not Yet Ripe for Diplomacy

July 18, 2006, 11:26 PM (GMT+02:00)

The diplomats descending on Beirut and Jerusalem intent on swinging a ceasefire in the seven-day Israel-Hizballah war exchanges have come too early. The two sides are in full flight. In Jerusalem at least, they have access to one of the principals, unlike Beirut. Except that Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, followed by foreign minister Tzipi Livni, spent Monday and Tuesday, July 17 and 18 laying down four totally unrealistic conditions for a ceasefire. The Olmert government’s starting point for diplomacy is a bit like its approach to the Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas. Even assuming he wanted to meet Israeli and international demands to dismantle terrorists and establish a regime based on law and order and fit for peace negotiations, he is totally powerless to bring his will to bear on the Palestinian situation. Just as Palestinian national security forces aid and abet terrorists, so too does Hizballah have sympathizers and collaborators inside the Lebanese army and security forces. Therefore, with the best will in the world, the diplomats have nothing to chew on at this point. Condoleezza Rice is under no illusions. “We should have a ceasefire when conditions are conducive to one,” she retorted at a joint news conference with Egyptian foreign minister Abul Gheit in Washington Tuesday, July 17. By this reply she slapped down her guest, who wanted a ceasefire at once, and the reporter who asked her how much time the Bush administration was willing to give Olmert.
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Bush Wants the Hizballah-Israel War to Give Iran a Bloody Nose

July 17, 2006, 8:07 PM (GMT+02:00)

Since the onset of the Israel-Hizballah war on July 12, US president George W. Bush never tires of repeating that Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorists and that it is up to Syria to press Hizballah to stop shooting rockets at Israel. Even Arab governments, which automatically fought any Israeli military action in the past, have formed a solid Sunni Muslim front, led by Saudi Arabia, which is content to watch the Shite Hizballah take a beating and the burgeoning Shiite assertiveness in the region squashed. The Olmert government is eagerly exploiting this leisurely international climate to smash as much of Hizballah’s terror machine as he can before Washington holds up a stop sign. This poker game between Tehran and Washington is going back and forth over the heads of Israel and Lebanon. It is the cause of the muddled statements coming from Israeli leaders with regard to the targets of the Lebanon campaign. However, the unacknowledged object of Israel’s campaign is none of the highly rational goals outlined by officials. It is to satisfy Washington that Tehran has been given a bloody nose and is ready to pull back from its deepening political, military and intelligence interference in Iraq. The conflict may only just be at the beginning. None of the main players show any eagerness to cut it short before they attain their purpose.
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