OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Agencies)
Hezbollah said Wednesday that a final Israeli report on the 2006 war in Lebanon confirms that the Jewish state suffered a blistering defeat, after the Israeli inquiry cited "grave failings" among Israel's political and army leaders.
Retired judge Eliahu Winograd, who led the five-member panel, said: "We found grave failings in the decision-making ... both on the military and political levels."
"All in all, the (Israeli military) failed ... to provide an effective military response to the challenge posed to it by the war in Lebanon," the final report said.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was fiercely criticized for Israeli losses in the assault, but Winograd, in his only direct mention of the prime minister, said he acted on an "honest assessment" of Israel's interests when he launched an offensive in the last days of the war as the U.N. struggled to broker a ceasefire.
The findings greatly eased pressure on Olmert to resign.
"The pressure is off," recently retired national security adviser Ilan Mizrahi told Reuters.
Olmert, who survived a similarly scathing interim report in April, has made clear he does not plan to quit and has already won crucial support from partners in his fractious coalition.
"All in all, the findings let him off the hook," said Israeli analyst Mark Heller. "Most of the criticism that had been directed against him was not made on legitimate grounds." |
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Hezbollah reaction Winograd called the conflict a "missed opportunity" that ended without clear victory over Hezbollah guerrillas, who pounded northern Israel with rockets and held out against an onslaught from the Middle East's most technologically advanced army.
"The report confirms what Hezbollah was saying all along," a spokesman for the militant group said on Wednesday. "Israel failed completely in achieving its goals and the Israeli army suffered a military defeat at the hands of Hezbollah," spokesman Hussein Rahal told AFP.
"Lebanon managed, despite all its losses, to come out victorious and defeat Israel," he added. "Israel took the decision to launch this war, not Lebanon."
The 34-day war, which was launched after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border attack, killed 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. |
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Political jostling Olmert's rivals had been quietly jostling for position in case he resigns, possibly triggering a snap election.
Though he is unpopular in polls, hampered by graft allegations and has already lost one coalition ally this month over new peace moves toward the Palestinians, Olmert has no obvious challenger.
He also has a powerful backer in U.S. President George W. Bush, whose hopes for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal during his final year in the White House would almost certainly be destroyed if Israel turned inward to fight an early election in which right-winger Benjamin Netanyahu would start as favourite.
Defence Minister Ehud Barak, leader of Olmert's main coalition partner the Labour party, was quoted saying the prime minister did not bear sole responsibility for any failings -- a signal Barak will not heed calls from Labour members to bring down the government over the inquiry's criticism of Olmert.
The army chief and previous defense minister already paid with their jobs last year for what many saw as a debacle after the guerrillas seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.
Opposition politicians and relatives of some of the 159 Israelis killed in the war, most of them soldiers, are planning protests later in the week, which Olmert's rivals hoped might push him toward the exit. But public outcry was muted after April's report and more delay has further dampened passions. |
