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Israeli Chief Of Staff Halutz Resigns Over Lebanon War |
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Wednesday, 17 January 2007 |
The Israeli military's chief of staff Dan Halutz submitted his resignation late Tuesday night, reportedly over criticism of Israel's handling of the month-long war in Lebanon last summer.
Lieutenant-General Halutz informed both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz of his decision, local media reported. Olmert accepted Halutz's resignation with deep sorrow, Israeli news website ynet reported, citing the prime minister's office.
The head of the Israeli Defence Force had come under heavy criticism over his management of the war with Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which began after the Iran-backed Shiite movement captured two Israeli soldiers during a cross-border raid on July 12, 2005.
Halutz earlier this month said he would not resign unless his superiors told him to do so, though he accepted responsibility for the army's failures in the month-long conflict, during which Israel failed to reach its apparent strategic goals - the freeing of the two Israeli soldiers and the defeat of Hezbollah.
With Halutz's resignation, pressure could now increase on Defence Minister Peretz to resign over the conflict as well.
An official Israeli inquiry into the war, headed by former judge Eliyahu Winograd, will likely release its interim conclusions in February and is expected to be critical of the political leadership as well as the military.
An internal military inquiry released last month and led by retired Major-General Amiram Levine concluded that the army's leadership had failed on all levels during the fighting.
According to Levine, the Israel Defence Force had failed to fulfil its mission of protecting Israel's northern communities, which suffered a barrage of rockets during the 33 days of combat.
Lebanese authorities have said that more than 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, died in the fighting, which ended August 14 with a UN-brokered ceasefire. The Israeli Army contends that more than 500 of the Lebanese dead were Hezbollah fighters.
Israel lost 159 people, 118 of them soldiers and the others civilians killed by Hezbollah rockets.
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