TEL AVIV — Thousands of Israeli troops left Lebanon on Monday as the United Nations
Security Council ceasefire resolution took effect.
Meanwhile, the debate here over the military outcome has already begun.
"Hizbullah was struck very hard," Justice Minister Haim Ramon said.
"About one-quarter of its combatants were killed. It's true Hizbullah wasn't
completely eliminated. But it is a different Hizbullah."
But Ramon's assessment was not shared by others in the Cabinet. During a
contentious cabinet meeting on Sunday, Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Elizer, in
an assertion echoed by some commanders in Lebanon, said Israel lost the war
with Hizbullah. Ben-Eliezer and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, a
former defense commander, have criticized the ceasefire accord.
"No country that was struck by 4,000 rockets would accept such a
document," Mofaz was quoted as telling Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday.
Officials said most of
the 30,000 Israeli soldiers deployed in southern Lebanon would return to Israel over
the next few days despite the absence of the Lebanese Army or international
force.
Military sources said the
last three days of fighting was marred by contradictory orders, disputes
between the General Staff and field commanders as well as between the
military and government.
"They [General Staff] wanted a rapid and massive advance in the last
hours [before the ceasefire]," a military source said. "The field
commanders, fearing additional and unnecessary casualties, refused."
The Israeli military asserted that more than 530 Hizbullah operatives
were killed during the war. In a statement on Monday, the military said it
identified 180 of the Hizbullah casualties.
Officials said a proposed 15,000-member peace-keeping force could take
weeks to arrive along the Israeli-Lebanese border, a key element of the
resolution. The Lebanese Army has mobilized its reserves, but a Lebanese
Cabinet meeting on Sunday intended to discuss deployment in the south was
canceled.
Hizbullah, which on Monday morning halted rocket fire, has refused to
redeploy north of the Litani River or surrender its weapons as stipulated by
the ceasefire, officials said. They said the Israeli government and military
expect Hizbullah to renew attacks on Israel over the next few days, probably
through Palestinian allies of the militia.
"In the first war we got to the Litani after four or five days," Col.
Shlomo Parente, who fought in the first war in Lebanon in 1982, said. "This
is different. Hizbullah doesn't run. They know how to fight, and they are
fanatics."
Over the last day, Hizbullah intensified its rocket attacks. On Sunday,
Hizbullah fired more than 200 rockets throughout northern Israel in which
one person was killed and dozens injured. Overall, nearly 150 Israeli
civilians and soldiers were killed in the war, which began on July 12.
The rockets, many of them Iranian-origin Khaibar-1 333 mm projectile,
reached Binyamina, about 50 kilometers north of Tel Aviv. Bet Shean, located
70 kilometers from the northern Israeli border, was also struck by Hizbullah
rockets.
The Iranian-trained militia also sent attack unmanned aerial vehicles
toward Israel. Israeli anti-aircraft batteries downed two of the UAVs in the
second such Hizbullah attack over the last week.
The military also reported heavy casualties during the last 48 hours of
fighting amid numerous abortive missions because of Hizbullah fire. Seven
Israeli soldiers were killed on Monday, at least two of them by Hizbullah
anti-tank fire.
"For the most part, Hizbullah is underground," Ben Zion Alexander, a
reservist in Lebanon, said. "They shoot a missile and go back in. That's why
it is taking so long. Here, you repeatedly clear them out and they are still
there."
On Sunday, Israel reported that 24 soldiers were killed on Aug. 13 in
Lebanon. The casualties, the heaviest for Israel in the war, included those
killed in friendly fire as well as in the Hizbullah downing of an Israeli
transport helicopter.
Despite the ceasefire, officials said, Hizbullah continues to receive
missile and other weapons
shipments from Syria, said to have also amassed troops and main battle tanks
along its southern border with Israel. They acknowledged that the Israel Air
Force failed to block anti-tank missiles and rockets shipments from Syria
into Lebanon. Israel has maintained its air, sea and land embargo on
Lebanon.
"Hizbullah will be reinforced in the future again with weapons from
Syria and Iran," Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin
said.
Israel has begun the withdrawal of its military from
Lebanon.
"There are holes in the ceasefire agreement," Maj. Gen. Udi Adam, chief
of Northern Command, said. "We have to be optimistic."
By Monday afternoon, the Israeli military reported Hizbullah fire in
southern Lebanon. Israeli forces were said to have returned fire and a
Hizbullah fighter was killed.
