Last update - 00:00 16/01/2007
Ex-IDF chief: Lebanon war was fought without clear objective
By Gideon Alon, Haaretz Correspondent
Former Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Dan Shomron told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that the second Lebanon war was carried out with no clear objective.
According to Shomron, the IDF was unable to translate into a military operation the instructions given by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to prevent rockets from being fired at Israel. Shomron added that the threat of rockets being fired from southern Lebanon at Israel remains today as it was before the war.
Shomron presented to the committee the conclusions of the investigation into the conduct of the IDF general staff during this summer's war in Lebanon. He said that the general staff serving now should be able to rehabilitate the IDF. He expressed his belief that Israel made the wrong decision in allowing UNIFIL (United Nations International Force in Lebanon) and the Lebanese army handle the Hezbollah threat during the years prior to the war.
According to Shomron, current IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz ordered the recall of all copies of the investigation report, which was distributed among IDF major generals, in order to prevent leaks.
Military sources reported that the copies that were circulated were recalled not for fear of leaks but because they were of a preliminary draft. They said that the final copies will be distributed to them soon, as is customary with reports like this.