A senior Israel Defense Forces officer on Sunday challenged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's assertion that he had ordered the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for a military operation along the northern border months before the second war in Lebanon broke out last summer.

In an interview with Haaretz, the officer said he was unaware of such an order, adding that the Northern Command and Galilee Division did not get a response to their warnings of a shortage of personnel along the northern border and concern over possible abductions.

Before the war, said the officer, Olmert spoke of a severe reaction if there was an abduction along the border, but did not comprehend what such a reaction entailed or how Hezbollah would act in such a situation.

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The officer also criticized Olmert for failing to order the army to implement military plans for an extensive ground assault during the first three weeks of the war in Lebanon.

The officer said that the existence of the plans was well-known, and criticized Olmert for delaying the ground assault - even after, according to the officer, it had been proved that the attempt to stop Hezbollah from firing Katyusha rockets on northern Israel by aerial bombing and limited ground incursions had failed.

"I don't know if he [Olmert] was familiar with the details of the plan, but everyone knew that the IDF had a ground operation ready for implementation," the officer said.

"In the first week, the chief of staff explains that an aerial assault and limited ground movement will solve the problem. The prime minister doesn't respond - okay. In the second week, though, he should already begin to ask questions, and in the third week, he has to understand that it's not working, and give the army another direction."

Olmert has told the Winograd Committee, which is investigating the war, that according to war plans drawn up as part of preparations that began four months before the fighting broke out, the troops were supposed to fight primarily from the air and in limited ground incursions.

The Prime Minister's Office said the officer's criticism was "not serious" and that Olmert's testimony was based on records and documents that fully support his position.

"Anonymous senior officers do not have the prime minister's testimony before the Winograd Committee, which will certainly be revealed when the time comes and will set things straight," the PMO said in a statement.

The officer said that throughout the war, all the combat division commanders, as well as the GOC Northern Command, supported an extensive ground incursion, and that Defense Minister Amir Peretz became convinced of its necessity. However, the officer said, the chief of staff opposed the plan and did not bring it up to Olmert, who in turn did not press such a move.

"The IDF had the tools to implement this step," the officer said. "The problem was at the decision-making level, which didn't push the button in time."