Last update - 02:04 07/12/2006
Internal IDF investigation finds serious flaws in conduct of recent war
By Amos Harel
In a report he presented to the General Staff in late November, Major General (res.) Amiram Levine was highly critical of the conduct of Northern Command during the recent war in Lebanon.
Levine, who headed one of the in-house Israel Defense Forces investigations into the conduct of the war, described serious flaws in the actions of senior officers and said Northern Command had failed in its mission.
In the meeting, which was acrimonious and accompanied by heated exchanges between Levine and other senior officers, it emerged that one of the serious flaws in the IDF's conduct was the preference of using air power over ground forces.
Levine said that the call-up of reservist units and their deployment was delayed to the point where it gave Hezbollah an advantage in countering a ground offensive.
In his assessment of the GOC Northern Command at the time of the war, Major General Udi Adam, who resigned two months ago, Levine said that he was insufficiently assertive in conducting the fighting.
Levine described the way Northern Command managed the war as a collection of unrelated events, rather than a concentration of force, and said this led to an uncoordinated military effort.
Regarding the role of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Moshe Kaplinsky, and the Chief of Operations at the General Staff, Gadi Eisenkot, now GOC Northern Command, Levine said that as ground forces commanders serving under a chief of staff with an air force pedigree, they should have played a more influential role.
He was also critical of the Ground Forces Command, headed by Major General Benny Gantz, which Levine said had not prepared the forces adequately.
Levine concluded that the way the IDF was deployed during the war was flawed and that the war's aims were not achieved. He said the IDF did not adequately prepare for the possibility that thousands of missiles would be launched against Israel.