Israeli general hails 2006 war as “just”
Israel”s war on Lebanon in July-August 2006 was "just," a senior Israeli army commander said on Tuesday. At a memorial for Israeli soldiers killed in the conflict, the head of the Israeli army”s Northern Command Major-General Gadi Eisenkot claimed the 34-day conflict was needed to halt Hizbullah”s aggression against northern Israel.
"The cause was just and disrupted an unbearable reality in the north whereby the Hizbullah organization was deployed along the border, initiated terror attacks once every few months and interpreted our desire for a peaceful existence as a weakness which can be taken advantage of," the Israeli media reported Eisenkot as saying.
"The image voiced then, which compared Israel to a spider”s web, is no longer heard," he said, making reference to a speech made by Hizbullah”s secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, shortly after UN Security Council Resolution 1701 brought an end to hostilities between the two countries.
A total of 1,191 civilians in Lebanon were killed and 4,000 wounded during the war, which also saw around one million Lebanese displaced from their homes and much of the country”s infrastructure destroyed. A total of 121 troops and 44 civilians were killed in Israel.
The Israeli army had learned from its experience in Lebanon and was ready for any future operations, the general said.
"Ever since the war, the enemy sees in front of it an army which can examine its abilities in an incisive and critical manner and fundamentally repair the military readiness, competence and ability to deter the enemy and keep acts of terror away, defending the northern border in a professional and efficient manner," Eisenkot said.
Israel”s army was one "always prepared to carry out any mission it is tasked with in a professional, determined and efficient way," he said.