2006 Lebanon War

The 2006 Lebanon War, known in Lebanon as the July War (Arabic: حرب تموز‎, Ḥarb Tammūz) and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War (Hebrew: מלחמת לבנון השנייה‎, Milhemet Levanon HaShniya), was a 33-day military conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel. The principal parties were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations-brokered ceasefire went into effect in the morning on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006 when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon.

The conflict began when Hezbollah militants purposely fired rockets at Israeli border towns as a diversion for an anti-tank missile attack on two armored Humvees patrolling the Israeli side of the border fence. Of the seven Israeli soldiers in the two jeeps, two were wounded, three were killed, and two were kidnapped and taken to Lebanon. Five more were killed in a failed Israeli rescue attempt. Israel responded with massive airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon that damaged Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport (which Israel alleged that Hezbollah used to import weapons and supplies), an air and naval blockade, and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah then launched more rockets into northern Israel and engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions.

The conflict killed over a thousand people, widely reported to be mostly Lebanese civilians, severely damaged Lebanese civil infrastructure, and displaced approximately one million Lebanese and 300,000–500,000 Israelis, although most were able to return to their homes. After the ceasefire, some parts of Southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to Israeli unexploded cluster bomblets.

On 11 August 2006, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved UN Resolution 1701 in an effort to end the hostilities. The resolution, which was approved by both Lebanese and Israeli governments the following days, called for disarmament of Hezbollah, for withdrawal of Israel from Lebanon, and for the deployment of Lebanese soldiers and an enlarged United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) force in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese army began deploying in southern Lebanon on 17 August 2006. The blockade was lifted on 8 September 2006. On 1 October, 2006, most Israeli troops withdrew from Lebanon, though the last of the troops continue to occupy the border-straddling village of Ghajar. In the time since the enactment of UNSCR 1701 both the Lebanese government and UNIFIL have stated that they will not disarm Hezbollah. The remains of the two kidnapped soldiers, whose fates were unknown, were returned to Israel on 16 July 2008 as part of a prisoner exchange.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) had engaged in cross-border attacks from southern Lebanon into Israel as far back as 1968, and the area became a significant base following the arrival of the PLO leadership and its Fatah brigade after their 1971 expulsion from Jordan. Demographic tensions were running high over the Lebanese National Pact, which divided governmental powers among religious groups, leading in part to the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). Concurrently, Syria began a 29 year military occupation. Israel's 1978 invasion of Lebanon failed to stem the Palestinian attacks, but Israel invaded Lebanon again in 1982 and forcibly expelled the PLO. Israel withdrew to a borderland buffer zone in southern Lebanon, held with the aid of proxy militants in the South Lebanon Army (SLA). In 1985, a Shi'a militant group calling itself Hezbollah declared an armed struggle to end the Israeli occupation of Lebanese territory. When the Lebanese civil war ended and other warring factions agreed to disarm, Hezbollah and the SLA refused. Combat with Hezbollah led to a collapse of the SLA.

When in 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon to the UN designated border, Hezbollah immediately followed in. Citing Israeli control of the disputed Shebaa farms region and the incarceration of Lebanese prisoners in Israel, Hezbollah continued cross border attacks, and used the tactic of seizing soldiers from Israel as leverage for a prisoner exchange in 2004, though it also continues to call for Israel's destruction.
Beginning of conflict

At around 8:07 AM local time (05:07 UTC) on 12 July 2006, Hezbollah launched diversionary rocket attacks toward Israeli military positions near the coast and near the border village of Zar'it as well as on the Israeli town of Shlomi and other villages. At the same time, a Hezbollah ground contingent crossed the border into Israeli territory and attacked two Israeli armoured Humvees patrolling on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, near Zar'it, killing three, injuring two, and kidnapping two Israeli soldiers (master sergeant Ehud Goldwasser and first sergeant Eldad Regev). Five more Israeli soldiers were killed later and a tank was destroyed on the Lebanese side of the border during an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the two kidnapped soldiers.
Hezbollah named the attack "Operation Truthful Promise" after leader Hassan Nasrallah's public pledges over the prior year and a half to seize Israeli soldiers and swap them for four Lebanese held by Israel:

• Samir Kuntar (a Lebanese citizen captured during a terrorist attack in 1979, convicted of murdering civilians and a police officer);
  
• Nasim Nisr (an Israeli-Lebanese citizen tried and convicted for spying by Israel);
  
• Yahya Skaf (a Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah claims was arrested in Israel, Israel denies);
  
• Ali Faratan (another Lebanese citizen whom Hezbollah claims to be held in Israel).
  

Nasrallah claimed that Israel had broken a previous deal to release these prisoners, and since diplomacy had failed, violence was the only remaining option. Nasrallah declared: "No military operation will return the Israeli captured soldiers…The prisoners will not be returned except through one way: indirect negotiations and a trade of prisoners."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the seizure of the soldiers as an "act of war" by the sovereign country of Lebanon, stating that "Lebanon will bear the consequences of its actions" and promising a "very painful and far-reaching response." Israel blamed the Lebanese government for the raid, as it was carried out from Lebanese territory and Hezbollah had two ministers serving in the Lebanese cabinet at that time. In response, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora denied any knowledge of the raid and stated that he did not condone it. An emergency meeting of the Lebanese government reaffirmed this position.

The Israel Defense Forces attacked targets within Lebanon with artillery and airstrikes hours before the Israeli Cabinet met to discuss a response. The Israeli aviation bombed several areas in Lebanon (bridges and roads, the Beirut airport), resulting in 44 civilian deaths.
Later that same day (12 July 2006), the Cabinet decided to authorize the Prime Minister, the Defense Minister and their deputies to pursue the plan which they had proposed for action within Lebanon. The decision also emphasized Prime Minister Olmert's demand that the Israeli Defense Force avoid civilian casualties whenever possible. Israel's chief of staff Dan Halutz said, "if the soldiers are not returned, we will turn Lebanon's clock back 20 years" while the head of Israel's Northern Command Udi Adam said, "this affair is between Israel and the state of Lebanon. Where to attack? Once it is inside Lebanon, everything is legitimate -- not just southern Lebanon, not just the line of Hezbollah posts." On 12 July 2006, the Israeli Cabinet promised that Israel would "respond aggressively and harshly to those who carried out, and are responsible for, today's action". The Cabinet's communiqué stated, in part, that the "Lebanese Government [was] responsible for the action that originated on its soil." A retired Israeli Army Colonel explained that the rationale behind the attack was to create a rift between the Lebanese population and Hezbollah supporters by exacting a heavy price from the elite in Beirut.

On 16 July, the Israeli Cabinet released a communiqué explaining that, although Israel had engaged in military operations within Lebanon, its war was not against the Lebanese government. The communiqué stated: "Israel is not fighting Lebanon but the terrorist element there, led by Nasrallah and his cohorts, who have made Lebanon a hostage and created Syrian- and Iranian-sponsored terrorist enclaves of murder."
When asked in August about the proportionality of the response, Prime Minister Olmert stated that the "war started not only by killing eight Israeli soldiers and abducting two but by shooting Katyusha and other rockets on the northern cities of Israel on that same morning. Indiscriminately." He added "no country in Europe would have responded in such a restrained manner as Israel did."

Palestinian Sunni Islamist paramilitary (Hamas)

Leader - Khaled Mashaal, Ismail Haniyah, Mahmoud Zahar

Founded - 1987

Headquarters - Gaza

Ideology - Palestinian nationalism, Sunni Islamism, Religious Nationalism

Hamas (حماس amās, an acronym of حركة المقاومة الاسلامية arakat al-Muqāwamat al-Islāmiyyah, meaning "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist paramilitary organization and political party which holds a majority of seats in the elected legislative council of the Palestinian National Authority.

Hamas was created in 1987 by Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi and Mohammad Taha of the Palestinian wing of the Muslim Brotherhood at the beginning of the First Intifada. Notorious for its numerous suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians and security forces, Hamas also runs extensive social programs and has gained popularity in Palestinian society by establishing hospitals, education systems, libraries and other services throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hamas' charter calls for the destruction of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian Islamic state in the area that is now Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Hamas describes its conflict with Israel as political and not religious or antisemitic. However, its founding charter, writings, and many of its public statements reflect the influence of antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Hamas's political wing has won many local elections in Gaza, Qalqilya, and Nablus. In January 2006, Hamas won a surprise victory in the Palestinian parliamentary elections, taking 76 of the 132 seats in the chamber, while the previous ruling Fatah party took 43. Many perceived the preceding Fatah government as corrupt and ineffective, and Hamas's supporters see it as an "armed resistance" movement defending Palestinians from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories. However, since Hamas's election victory, particularly sharp infighting has occurred between Hamas and Fatah.

Following the Battle of Gaza in June of 2007, elected Hamas officials were ousted from their positions in the Palestinian National Authority government in the West Bank, replaced by rival Fatah members and independents in an action that many Palestinians and other experts considered illegal. On 18 June 2007, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Fatah) issued a decree outlawing the Hamas militia and executive force.
Hamas is listed as a terrorist organization by Canada, the European Union, Israel, Japan, and the United States, and is banned in Jordan. Australia and the United Kingdom list only the military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, as a terrorist organization. The United States and the European Union have both implemented restrictive measures against Hamas on an international level.

Funding
According to the U.S. State Dept, Hamas is funded by Iran (led by a Shi'i Islamic regime), Palestinian expatriates, and "private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states." The party is known to support families of suicide bombers after their deaths, including providing a monthly allowance. Various sources, among them United Press International, Le Canard enchaîné, Gérard Chaliand and L'Humanité have highlighted that Hamas' early growth had been supported by the Mossad as a "counterbalance to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)". Furthermore, the French investigative newspaper Le Canard enchaîné stated that Shin Bet had also supported Hamas as a counterweight to the PLO and Fatah, in an attempt to give "a religious slant to the conflict, in order to make the West believe that the conflict was between Jews and Muslims", thus supporting the controversial thesis of a "clash of civilizations".
The charitable trust Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development was accused in December 2001 of funding Hamas. The case against the foundation, however, ended in a mistrial in which, of the 200 charges filed by the United States Justice Department, the jurors had acquitted on some counts and were deadlocked on charges ranging from tax violations to providing material support for terrorists. However in a retrial, on November 24, 2008 the U.S. won convictions of the five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation on all 108 counts of the original indictment.

India's Premier Suggests Pakistani Agencies Backed Mumbai Attackers

India's prime minister accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a policy tool and said the Mumbai attackers must have had the support of some official Pakistani agencies, allegations that appeared to dim any prospect of cooperation between the two countries in probing the attacks.

A statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry said the nation "emphatically rejects the unfortunate allegations." Pakistani officials warned that Mr. Singh's remarks could affect Islamabad's offer of cooperation into the attacks. "Scoring points like this will only move us further away from focusing on the very real and present danger of regional and global terrorism," said information minister Sherry Rehman.

The attacks in late November left more than 170 dead. India claims the attackers came from Pakistan and provided a dossier of evidence to substantiate its claims to Pakistan Monday. The latest verbal sparring comes amid heightened tensions between the two nuclear-armed nations, though both sides have said they want to avoid war.
The usually soft-spoken and reticent Mr. Singh made his remarks at a conference in New Delhi to review India's internal security. India has announced the overhaul of its security system since the Mumbai attacks, which culminated a year of terrorist strikes around the country including in New Delhi, Jaipur and the northeast.
Mr. Singh made a distinction, however, between threats emanating from inside the nation, such as the separatist movement in the northeastern state of Assam and a Maoist rebellion in central and southeastern states, and terrorist threats from abroad.

Even though this year internally-launched attacks have claimed in total more lives than the Mumbai strikes, Mr. Singh said the key threat was from increasingly sophisticated and frequent attacks targeting the country's economy and infrastructure by groups emanating from neighboring states, chiefly Pakistan. The distinction may have been designed to focus attention on India's neighbors, rather than the nation's own internal problems, in advance of a national election that must be held before May.

"Terrorism is largely sponsored from outside our country, mainly Pakistan, which has utilized terrorism as an instrument of state policy," Mr. Singh said. He also said given the sophistication and precision of the Mumbai attacks, the terrorists must have had the support of some official agencies in Pakistan.
Some analysts said Mr. Singh's remarks would complicate efforts to defuse tensions between the two countries and could further weaken the civilian government in Pakistan. "Both India and Pakistan need to be careful with their rhetoric," said John Harrison, assistant professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. It's in India's own security interests to "help stabilize the civilian government in Pakistan" not weaken it, he added.

Pakistan also poured cold water on India's claims that the dossier of evidence provided Monday contained proof that the attacks emanated from Pakistan. A senior official in the foreign ministry said the file provided no new information beyond what already had appeared in the Indian media. "We are willing to provide all cooperation provided India gives us more detail," the official said.

A major problem, according to the official, is that India wasn't willing to coordinate with the intelligence agencies involved in Islamabad's own investigation. "We have to develop a mechanism for the sharing of information and the investigation," he said.

Western diplomats, as well as Indian officials, have said Pakistan has all the information it needs to show that the attackers were Pakistani and launched their attacks from Pakistan. India and U.S. officials say the attacks were planned by Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. Pakistan security officials also say that one Lashkar leader arrested in the wake of the attacks has admitted to the group's involvement.