TEL AVIV — Israel's military has quietly acknowledged failure to
achieve the goals of its war in Lebanon.
Military sources said the 23-day-old air and ground war in Lebanon
failed to remove Hizbullah from southern Lebanon. They said Hizbullah has
retained the ability to fire rocket salvos into northern and central Israel.
"We have to think about the next round of fighting and how we could do
things better and faster," a senior military source said.
The Israel Air Force conducted 3,000 sorties in Lebanon and struck
thousands of targets since July 12, Middle East Newsline reported. But the air operations, which included
strikes on Beirut early Friday, failed to halt or
significantly reduce Hizbullah rocket strikes.
Hizbullah has fired about 2,400 rockets, or more than 100 per day, amid
a threat by Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah to strike Tel Aviv.
On Thursday, at least eight Israeli civilians were killed in Hizbullah
rocket strikes. Hizbullah fired about 180 rockets, 100 of them in the space
of an hour. Hizbullah resumed rocket fire against Israel on Friday.
"We will conduct an assessment of the situation and decide how to act,"
Brig. Gen. Miri Regev, the chief military spokesperson, said.
The sources said the Israeli ground force of 10,000 soldiers —
comprising seven brigades — fell short in efforts to carve out a buffer
zone of up to eight kilometers in Lebanon. They said Hizbullah, amid Israeli
shortfalls in intelligence and air assets, continues to maintain a presence
in numerous Shi'ite villages near the Israeli border.
On Thursday, four Israeli soldiers were killed by Hizbullah anti-tank
fire in Lebanon. The Hizbullah launch of Soviet-origin Saggers also disabled
at least one Israeli Merkava Mk-3 main battle tank. Hizbullah reported the
destruction of three additional Merkavas.
"What happened was that the Sagger penetrated an unprotected part of the
[Mk-3] tank," an officer said.
A senior intelligence officer said that despite advanced
countermeasures, close air support operations were hampered by Hizbullah's
SA-7 surface-to-air missiles. The officer said Israel also lacked sufficient
attack helicopters to operate in both Lebanon as well as in the Gaza Strip.
Israel lost at least three AH-64 Apache attack helicopters in the war.
The acknowledgement of failure by the military contrasted with that of
the Israeli government, which has been bracing for the prospect of an
imminent ceasefire. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, reported to have opposed an
Israeli advance to the Litani River, asserted that Hizbullah's
infrastructure was "entirely destroyed," with 770 Hizbullah command and
control centers neutralized.
"In a military simulation four months ago, we were told that such an
operation would take between four and six weeks," Justice Minister Haim
Ramon said. "Already, we have significant achievements. About 15 percent of
Hizbullah fighters have been killed."
Military sources said most of the Hizbullah rocket sites destroyed were
those of medium- and long-range batteries. In contrast, Hizbullah's portable
107 mm and 122 mm Katyusha rocket arsenal was said to have remained largely
intact.
"The Israel Defense Forces should have invaded Lebanon and reached the
Litani River [15 kilometers north of Israel] within the first two or three
days," Likud parliamentarian Yuval Steinitz, former chairman of the Knesset
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said. "It must take place tomorrow
morning. The worst thing would be a security zone in which we are in one
village and Hizbullah is in another village."
