Zar'it-Shtula incident

The Zar'it-Shtula incident was a cross-border attack committed by Lebanon-based Hezbollah special forces on an Israeli military patrol on 12 July 2006 on Israeli territory. The operation was originally named "Freedom for Samir Al-Quntar and his brothers" by Hezbollah, but it was shortened to "Operation Truthful Promise". [cite web
url=http://www.upc.org.uk/hasann12jul06.html
title=Press Conference with Hasan Nasrallah
accessdate=2006-11-13
date=12 July 2006
work=UNDERSTANDING THE PRESENT CRISIS
publisher=UPC (Link is dead but available via the Internet Archive [http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.upc.org.uk/hasann12jul06.html] [http://web.archive.org/web/20061230184520/http://www.upc.org.uk/hasann12jul06.html] )] Using rockets fired on several Israeli towns as a diversion, Hezbollah militants crossed from Lebanon into Israel [cite news | title=Clashes Spread to Lebanon as Hezbollah Raids Israel | date=2006-07-13| publisher=The New York Times| url= http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/13/world/middleeast/13mideast.html?hp&ex=1152849600&en=7c501785edb16cc8&ei=5094&partner=homepage] and ambushed two Israeli Army vehicles, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two. Hezbollah demanded the release of Lebanese prisoners held by Israel in exchange for the release of the abducted soldiers. Israel refused and launched a large-scale military campaign across Lebanon in response to the Hezbollah incursion. This marked the start of the 2006 Lebanon War. Two years later, on July 16, 2008, the bodies of the two abducted soldiers were returned to Israel by Hezbollah in exchange for Samir Kuntar and four Hezbollah prisoners.

Planning phase

On November 21, 2005, Hezbollah guerrillas infiltrated northern Israel in what Israel said was an attempt to kidnap soldiers. Four Hezbollah fighters were killed, and in response, Israel launched air strikes and artilery at Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. During the brief clash, Hezbollah also launched rockets at towns in northern Israel. [http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/israel-hezbollah-blame-each-other-for-clash/2005/11/22/1132421666090.html] [http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woleba224523762nov22,0,2969932.story?coll=ny-worldnews-headlines]

On May 28, 2006, less than two months before the Lebanon War began, Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to the killing in Lebanon of Mahmoud al-Majzoub. Israel retaliated by launching air strikes on Hezbollah bases in Lebanon and firing artillery across the border. The fighting was described as the most intense since the Israeli withdrawal in 2000, though it was over quickly due to a UN-sponsored cease fire. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/29/world/middleeast/29mideast.html?_r=1&oref=slogin]

In the months leading up to the July 12 attack, Lt. Col. Ishai Efroni reported seeing increased activity across the fenceline, including more brazen Hezbollah patrols. He had repeatedly seen burden-laden donkeys, which he had believed were being led by innocent farmers, but after the incident suspected were laden with arms and equipment. After the May 28 rocket attack, the colonel, who at 41 had spent much of his career along the northern border, "got the feeling something had changed."cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/AR2006102001688.html
title=Israeli War Plan Had No Exit Strategy: Forecast of 'Diminishing Returns' in Lebanon Fractured Unity in Cabinet
first=Scott
last=Wilson
date=2006-10-21
publisher=Washington Post
location=Jerusalem
accessdate=21 October
accessyear=2006]

Hezbollah had carved a hollow from the underbrush, just above the Israeli border patrol track. The "camp was stocked with food, water, radios, rifles, antitank missiles and diagrams detailing the insignia and size of Israeli military units."

The incident

At around 9:00 a.m. local time (06:00 UTC), on 12 July 2006, Hezbollah initiated a diversionary Katyusha rocket and mortar attack on Israeli military positions and border villages, including Zar'it and Shlomi.cite web
url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=737825
title=Hezbollah kills 8 soldiers, kidnaps two in offensive on northern border
accessdate=2006-08-13
last=Harel
first=Amos
date=July 13,2006
publisher=Haaretz] cite web
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/12/AR2006071200262_pf.html
title=Hezbollah Raid Opens 2nd Front for Israel
accessdate=2006-08-18
date=July 13,2006
publisher=The Washington Post] [ [http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/transcripts/2006/jul/060712.gradstein.html Hezbollah Captures Two Israeli Soldiers ] ] [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/13/africa/web.0712mideast.php Clashes spread to Lebanon as Hezbollah raids Israel - International Herald Tribune ] ] [ [http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART1/448/015.html חדשות nrg - חיזבאללה: חטפנו שני חיילים, שחררו אסירים ] ] [cite news | title= Day-by-day: Lebanon crisis - week one
date=July 19, 2006 | publisher=BBC | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5179434.stm]

A ground contingent of Hezbollah fighters crossed the border into Israeli territory and attacked two Israeli armoured Humvees patrolling on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border between the villages of Zar'it and Shtula. The attackers took advantage of a "dead zone" in the border fence not visible from any of the IDF lookout posts and may have used a wheeled ladder to climb the fence. After hiding in a wadi on the Israeli side of the fence they attacked with a combination of pre-positioned explosives and anti-tank missiles. The team knocked out the trailing Humvee, killing three soldiers inside, and captured two soldiers from the first vehicle. "Another soldier was seriously wounded, another lightly wounded and a third suffered a shrapnel scratch." The entire incident took no more than 10 minutes.

A total of seven army posts "reported taking fire at the same time, coordinated attacks that knocked out surveillance cameras." The attack had knocked out command communications with the convoy. Twenty minutes passed until Staff Sgts. Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26, were confirmed to be missing from the first vehicle, while the gunmen "fled through olive orchards to the Lebanese border village of Aita al-Shaab."

Lt. Col. Ishai Efroni, deputy commander of the Baram Brigade, sent a Merkava Mark II tank, an armored personnel carrier and a helicopter in pursuit. Crossing into Lebanon,cite web
url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738310.html
title=IDF retrieves bodies of four tank soldiers killed in south Lebanon
accessdate=2006-08-13
last=Harel
first=Amos
coauthors=Jack Khoury
date=July 14,2006
publisher=Haaretz] they headed down a dirt track lined with Lebanese border defenses. When it "unexpectedly veered onto the road near a known Hezbollah post" the resulting blast was "enormous, killing the four soldiers inside instantly."cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/738310.html|title= IDF retrieves bodies of four tank soldiers killed in south Lebanon|publisher=Haaretz|date=2006-07-14|accessdate =2006-07-16] A fifth soldier died during an ensuing firefight while attempting to recover their bodies.

Aftermath

The IDF confirmed the capture of the two Israeli soldiers on 13 July. They were both reservists on their last day of operational duty.cite news | title=Kidnapped soldier's kin: Stop the killing| date=2006-07-21|publisher=CNN| url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/20/kidnapped.soldiers/index.html]

Hezbollah released a statement saying "Implementing our promise to free Arab prisoners in Israeli jails, our strugglers have captured two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon." [cite web | url=http://www.newkerala.com/news3.php?action=fullnews&id=21653 | title=Hezbollah captures two Israeli soldiers | date=2006-07-12] Later on, Hassan Nasrallah declared that "No military operation will return them… [t] he prisoners will not be returned except through one way: indirect negotiations and a trade of prisoners." [cite web | url=http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Palestine/200711 | title=Hizbullah leader calls for prisoner exchange] No Hezbollah casualties were reported.Fact|date=December 2007

On 6 August the IDF announced one of the Hezbollah participants was captured in a commando operation. [cite news | url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/746939.html | title=IDF says holding soldiers' abductor; 3 soldiers hurt in Lebanon | publisher=Haaretz | date=2006-08-06]

On 27 August the Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has said he would not have ordered the abduction of two Israeli soldiers if he had known it would lead to such a war. "Had we known that the kidnapping of the soldiers would have led to this, we would definitely not have done it," he said in an interview on Lebanese TV. [cite web
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5291420.stm
title=Nasrallah sorry for scale of war
date=2006-08-27
publisher=BBC News
accessdate=1 November
accessyear=2006] On the other side, however; Israeli P.M. Ehud Olmert testified before the Winograd Commission that he had fully planned for an intensive war upon a kidnapping as early as March. [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/834549.html]

Nasrallah stated on 31 October 2006 that indirect talks with Israel on hostage return had begun. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6104520.stm "Hezbollah confirms Israel talks"] , "BBC News", 1 November 2006]

Haaretz reported in March 2007 that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert testified to the Winograd Commission that several meetings regarding Hezbollah were held upon his taking office, and that in response to the likely scenario of soldiers again being abducted, he chose one of several plans of action instead of having to make a snap-judgement if and when such a scenario occurred. [cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/834549.html|title=PM: War planned months in advance|author=Aluf Benn|publisher=Haaretz|date=March 08, 2007|accessdate=2007-05-09]

On 6 December 2006, a previously classified report released by Israel stated that the two soldiers were critically wounded during the abduction. [cite news|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/06/world/main2233993.shtml|title=Captured Israeli soldiers may be dead|author=Robert Berger|publisher=CBS News|date=December 06, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-09] [cite news|url=http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881826613&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull|title=EU envoy: No proof that Eldad and Goldwasser are alive|author=Tovah Lazaroff|publisher=Jerusalem Post|date=December 05, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-09] [cite news|url=http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/12/1/worldupdates/2006-12-01T130226Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-278538-1&sec=Worldupdates|title=Olmert: No Hezbollah prisoner swap if Israelis dead - report|publisher=Reuters|date=December 01, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-09] [cite news|url=http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/793999.html|title=Red Cross: No signs of life from abducted IDF troops in Lebanon|author=Jack Khoury|coauthors=Assaf Uni|publisher=Haaretz|date=November 29, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-09]

On June 29, 2008, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert declared the two captives dead. On July 16, 2008 Hezbollah swapped the bodies of Ehud and Eldad for Samir Kuntar, four Hezbollah prisoners captured during the 2006 Lebanon war and the bodies of 199 killed Palestinian and Lebanese fighters.

ee also

* Ehud Goldwasser
* Eldad Regev

References