World Tribune.com

Israeli military, government at odds over prosecution of war

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Wednesday, August 2, 2006

TEL AVIV — Israel's government and military disagree over the goals of the war with Hizbullah.

Officials and military sources expressed concern over the worsening ties between Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and Defense Minister Amir Peretz. They said the two men disagree over the short-term goals of the operation, the war's timetable and the number of troops required.

"It's clear they don't speak the same language," an official said.

Peretz as well as Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have accused Halutz of minimizing the military's achievements in the war in Lebanon, which began on July 12. Olmert, dismissing the daily rocket strikes on the Jewish state, has asserted that Hizbullah was badly hurt in Israeli air and ground strikes.

"Under no circumstances can we judge this war by the number of rockets they fired against us," Olmert said on Tuesday.

Over the last few days, the Olmert government has claimed that Hizbullah's medium- and long-range rocket as well as command and control capabilities were destroyed. Ministers, bracing for an imminent U.S.-arranged ceasefire, have suggested that the military completed most of its goals in Lebanon and have pressed for spectacular missions to improve morale.

"There is no way that the last of Hizbullah's missiles will be destroyed," Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit told Israel state radio. "There is no such option, not by ground forces and not from the air."

In contrast, the General Staff has ordered a slow advance in Lebanon that takes into account Hizbullah's vast fortifications. Military sources said Hizbullah, reinforced by advanced reconnaissance equipment and anti-tank missiles, has constructed a maze of tunnels, bunkers and minefields designed to exact high casualties in any conventional Israeli military offensive.

"The government has given me plenty of time, and I intend to use it as long as it takes," Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, commander of the Galilee Division, said.

On Tuesday, three Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with Hizbullah in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah, bolstered by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was said to have used anti-tank fire against Israeli infantry and armored forces in the battle around the Lebanese border village of Aita Al Shaab.

The sources said military intelligence has determined that Hizbullah's medium-range rocket capabilities were damaged. But they said Hizbullah was believed to possess an arsenal of up to 10,000 Katyusha rockets, with a range of 22 kilometers and deployed in southern Lebanon.

"The IDF's operations have significantly eroded Hizbullah's power, but military intelligence officers admit that if the fighting stopped this morning, [Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan] Nasrallah would be able to present his survival as a victory," Israeli military analyst Amir Oren said.

On Wednesday, after a 48-hour lull, Hizbullah fired more than 200 Katyusha rockets into Israel, with at least one rocket striking the West Bank. Officials said this marked the most intense Hizbullah rocket attack in the war.

"We have to reassess deep-penetration strikes in Beirut, and I am sure that this issue will come up for decision and approval over the next day or two," Halutz said. "This operation has a military and political ream. The military realm has never adopted the goal of zero Katyushas."

Halutz, who twice over the last four days underwent medical tests in a Tel Aviv hospital, has been dismayed by Peretz's policy of seeking U.S. approval for Israeli operations. On July 30, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported, Peretz asked visiting U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice whether Israel could attack a car in Lebanon that contained Nasrallah. Ms. Rice was said to have replied "yes."

"We are operating on the assumption that the political window will be small," Peretz said.

Officials said relations between the government and military could deteriorate at the end of the war. They said both sides would blame each other for the Hizbullah rocket war while the opposition would clamor for a state commission of inquiry.

"All of this would wait until the termination of hostilities," Knesset member Limor Livnat, a member of the opposition Likud Party, said.

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