Last update - 00:00 18/09/2006
Halutz appoints team to examine Hezbollah kidnapping of soldiers
By Amos Harel and Amir Oren, Haaretz Correspondents
IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz on Monday appointed an investigative team to examine Hezbollah's July 12 kidnapping of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Halutz requested that the staff finish its work and present its conclusions within a month.
Halutz appointed General (res.) Doron Almog, former head of the Southern Command, to head the team. The chief of staff held met on September 18 with Reserve generals to discuss the army's conduct during the war. Almog was one of the harshest critics of the IDF's performance in the war.
The intention of the new investigative team is to carry out an examination by a team of experts, some of whom are not in regular army service.
Monday morning, Haaretz reported that IDF investigations since the kidnapping showed that military intelligence ignored signs that Hezbollah was planning an attack. According to the findings, this information, which may have given the army a greater chance of thwarting the attack, was not examined properly or distributed to forces on the ground in time.
The IDF Spokesman's Office refused to affirm or deny these findings, stating that the investigations were still to be carried out by Military Intelligence and the Northern Command, and that he could not comment on an ongoing investigation.
Immediately after the kidnapping, the Northern Command appointed an investigative team headed by Brigadier General (res.) Avi Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi was expected to present his report to Halutz this week, as well as to the senior IDF brass.