This page is subject to the extended confirmed restriction related to the Arab-Israeli conflict.19 Hezbollah fighters and 2 armed Communist party members killed[2] Military engagements and attacks Evacuations Response Related topics During the 2006 Lebanon War, Operation Sharp and Smooth (Hebrew: מבצע חד וחלק), also known as the Baalbek operation, was an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) raid on a hospital in the city of Baalbek, which was being used as a Hezbollah headquarters, and a neighbourhood of the city.

[8] The hospital was one of several medical facilities that the IDF believed may have been used to treat or hold the two captured soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, after their abduction by Hezbollah the previous month.

[6] The operation involved two commando units: Shaldag of the Israeli Air Force, and Sayeret Matkal of the IDF Branch of Intelligence (Aman).

[7] The Sayeret Matkal unit proceeded to the Dar al-Hikma hospital in the Jamaliyah suburb of Baalbek, known for its connections to Hezbollah and believed by Israeli Military Intelligence to be a base for Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

[8] Based on Hezbollah "martyr" posters that later appeared around the village of Al Jamaliyeh, HRW concluded that the nurse and the two militants may have been the only Hezbollah-affiliated people killed in the raid.

The father Talal Chibli (40), his wife Maha Sha`ban (32) and their children Muhannad (13), Muayyad (12), Asma’ (6), and Muhammad (4) were killed or died later of their wounds.

The Israeli soldiers entered a house in the neighborhood and asked a shopkeeper if he was Hassan Nasrallah, which was his name, although he was unrelated to the Hezbollah leader.

[11] An Israeli reserve soldier serving in the Military Police complained about the procedure, calling it "hard to describe it as humanitarian treatment."

[12] According to the investigation by Human Rights Watch 16 Lebanese residents were killed in the raid, of whom four were deemed combatants and a further two civilian members of Hezbollah or the Communist party.

[17] An official report by the Lebanese Internal Security Forces (ISF) confirm these numbers, although the names do not fully match those supplied by HRW.

[6] Lebanese sources claimed that the target of the raid was Mohammad Yazbek, a well-known Hezbollah leader living in the area who had been accused by Israel of involvement in the capture of IDF Colonel (res.)

Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz claimed that "the main goal" was to deliver a message to Hizbullah that the IDF "can operate deep inside Lebanon and wherever else we want to.

"[6] According to Ami Pedahzur, Professor of Government and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin,[21] the raid was an unsuccessful attempt to kidnap Hezbollah activists for "bargaining" purposes.

"[23] Former chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon, a sharp critic of IDF conduct during the Lebanon war, questioned whether the raid was "justified in terms of risk, cost and benefit" and whether it was not simply "an adventure.

[8] Hezbollah leader Nasrallah mocked the raid during a speech on al-Manar TV in which he said "They stormed a hospital and threw a grenade...to search for injured fighters who they didn’t capture...they kidnapped five civilians and they are hostages.

"[25] According to Ofer Shelach and Yoav Limor, the operation had a psychological influence on Hezbollah leadership as the attack was in the heart of their stronghold, the local commander of Bekaa area was dismissed, movement on the roads was minimized, and more energy was put on self-defense.