Olmert 'pre-planned' Lebanon war

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has testified he launched last year's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon in line with a contingency…

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has testified he launched last year's war against Hizbullah in Lebanon in line with a contingency plan he approved four months earlier, it has been reported.

Mr Olmert, who is being criticised for his handling of the inconclusive 34-day war, told a judicial inquiry last month that Hizbullah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on July 12th triggered the plans for a large-scale attack in Lebanon, Haaretznewspaper reported today.

The inquiry, known as the Winograd Commission, is expected to publish an interim report this month. Haaretzdid not say how it had learnt the details of Mr Olmert's testimony last month.

Many Israelis view Mr Olmert's decision to go to war as a knee-jerk reaction by a leader with little security experience, unlike his predecessor, former general Ariel Sharon.

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But in testimony apparently aimed at dismissing any notion he acted recklessly, Mr Olmert told the commission he asked army commanders in March 2006 if a contingency plan for military action existed if soldiers were abducted along the Lebanon frontier, Haaretzsaid.

Presented with options, Mr Olmert chose what the newspaper described as a "moderate plan" that included air strikes accompanied by a limited ground operation.

Mr Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz have seen their popularity slump since the conflict in which 158 Israelis, including 117 soldiers and 41 civilians, were killed and thousands of Hizbullah rockets were fired into Israel.

About 1,200 people were killed in Lebanon, including an estimated 270 Hizbullah fighters.

Israel failed to achieve its declared goals of retrieving the two soldiers taken in a cross-border raid, and destroying the Iranian- and Syrian-backed groups' rocket arsenal and military capacity.