Timeline of the 2006 Lebanon War
At approximately 9 am local time,[1] Hezbollah's military wing launched a barrage of rockets and mortars on the northern Israeli town of Shlomi, apparently as a diversion.
An Israeli Merkava Mark II tank was damaged by a 300 kg improvised explosive device as it crossed the border in Lebanon, attempting to pursue Hezbollah.
Having failed to achieve this objective, Hassan Nasrallah declared that the organization would carry out further operations at a later date to gain the release of the remaining prisoners.
It was harshly criticised by many members of the largely anti-Syrian parliamentary majority,[15] while Michel Aoun, despite his understanding with the party, declared that he supported the government's position.
[23] However, the strike eventually resulted in the spilling of over 15,000 tons of heavy fuel oil, affecting 50 miles (80 km) of coastline and threatening aquatic life and fishing.
According to the Lebanese government, in Dweir, a small village near Nabatiye, Israeli planes dropped a bomb onto the home of a local Shia Muslim cleric, killing him, his wife and eight of his children.
[63] The number of Lebanese civilians killed in the Israeli strikes rises above 50, and the United Nations convened an emergency meeting of the Security Council where Lebanon accused Israel of launching "a widespread barbaric aggression".
[69][70] On the morning of July 16, several barrages of Katyusha rockets hit the northern cities of Haifa, Acre, and Nahariya, and explosions were also heard in Rosh HaNikra.
[88] On July 18, 13 civilians from two families were killed in an air raid on the southern town of Aytaroun, reports indicates that the dead included nine children, taking the death toll to more than 200.
and extensive damage to telecommunications, electricity, ports, airports, and even private sector facilities, including a milk factory and food warehouses.
[97] On July 21, Israel continued airstrikes against Lebanon while massing troops on the border and calling up five battalions of army reservists (3000 reserves) for a possible ground invasion.
Israeli airstrikes also targeted sites around the southern Lebanese village of Khiyam, seeking out Hezbollah positions and rocket launchers, and blasted road traffic around the coastal city of Tyre.
Israeli officials indicated that they planned to maintain a ground presence in south Lebanon until a multinational peacekeeping force was deployed there, preferably NATO.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Israel planned to maintain a 2 km security zone from the border free of Hezbollah as talks continued in Rome for an international peacekeeping force.
The IDF reported that 26 gunmen were killed in clashes near the southern Lebanon town of Maroun Al Ras, Bint Jbeil and Eitaroun.
[116] IDF deployed a Patriot interceptor missile battery north of Tel Aviv, in response to Hezbollah firing Khaibar-1 rockets at Afula on July 28.
CNN reported that the Israeli Army had explained the bombing was to "protect ground forces operating in the border area and were not aimed at specific targets".
[127] There were unconfirmed reports of a late-night incursion by IDF on the western range of the Lebanese mountains and four Israeli IAF raids targeted the Faraya road around Hermel in the Bekaa valley.
Operations continued around Hermel with an attack on a pickup truck loaded with cooking gas tanks, and 5 strikes on a road linking eastern Lebanon to western regions and coastline.
[128][131] The intended target of the raid was reported to have been Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek a member of Hezbollah's Shoura Council, and a Lebanese representative of the Iranian spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Hezbollah said it had attacked an Israeli Army armoured unit inside Lebanon, destroying two tanks and leaving their crews dead or wounded as they attempted to advance on the Rub Thalatheen hill at Adaisseh.
[140] Israeli aircraft destroyed four bridges on the main coastal highway north of Beirut, disrupting efforts to aid civilians displaced or trapped by the conflict.
[140] After bombing the last land routes into Beirut, and effectively cutting off the Lebanese capital from relief supplies, Israel issued a statement saying the attacks were designed to thwart Syrian attempts to arm Hezbollah."
Hadera is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of Tel Aviv, which Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened August 3 to strike in retaliation for Israeli attacks on Beirut.
[149] One day later, on August 19, 2006, Israel launched a raid in Lebanon's eastern Beqaa Valley it says was aimed to disrupt weapons supplies to Hezbollah from Syria and Iran.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply concerned" about an Israeli commando raid in eastern Lebanon Saturday, calling it a violation of a U.N.-backed ceasefire.
"[155] Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told the Associated Press that "[t]he cease-fire is based on (U.N. resolution) 1701 which calls for an international arms embargo against Hezbollah.
[164] Then on October 3, 2006, Israeli jets conducted mock air raids over Nabatiyeh, Khiam, and Marjayoun in Southern Lebanon, and later over the Iqlim al-Tuffah region and Western Bekaa Valley.
[165][166][167] An Israeli fighter penetrated the 2-nautical-mile (3.7 km) defence perimeter of the French frigate Courbet without answer radio calls, triggering a diplomatic incident[168] Israel admitted on October 22 to using white phosphorus in Lebanon.
[179] After one month, on December 1, 2006, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan submitted a report to the Security Council president maintaining "there were no serious incidents or confrontations" since the cease-fire in August 2006.
