Israeli probe says forces failed

JERUSALEM, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The Israeli army played into the hands of Hezbollah militants during the 2006 Lebanon war, a Knesset report concluded Monday.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said responsibility for the war rests on the shoulders of the nation's political leaders even though the report didn't address their role, Haaretz reported.

"The responsibility for deciding how to enter and end war belongs to the political echelon, even if the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee decided for its own reasons not to address it," Barak said in a Jerusalem Post report.

The report was highly critical of government decisions, especially the failure to order a ground offensive to eliminate Katyusha rockets until the final days of the war.

"The lack of an approved and updated plan of attack was a grievous blunder by the Northern Command," the report said.

The Israeli military "was supposed to eliminate the threat of Hezbollah's short-range rockets, but in the 34 days of fighting failed to do so … nevertheless, the committee has learned that the lessons derived from the war have been properly assimilated and implemented," Ynetnews quoted the report as saying.

The report was highly critical of tactical decisions, saying tank brigades were used contrary to combat doctrine, the Post said.

The Second Lebanon War began July 12, 2006, and lasted 34 days. It was triggered by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers along the Lebanon border during a rocket attack on Israeli settlements.