Isralei government believed Lebanon war would be limited operation

May 10, 2007, 8:59 GMT

Jerusalem - The Israeli government believed that last summer's war with Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas would only last 10 days to two weeks, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a commission investigating the conflict, according to testimony released Thursday.

The testimony of Olmert, Defence Minister Peretz and former military chief of staff Dan Haltuz, was released to the public less than two weeks after the commission published an interim report harshly critical of the way the three handled the first five days of the war which, despite the government's initial assessment, lasted for 33 days.

Olmert told the commission that throughout the conflict there had been something 'defective' in the army's philosophy and perception of command.

'Something in the way we operated our forces, something in how we controlled them, wasn't what we expected - and there is no doubt that this created a gap between what we could achieve, and what we actually achieved,' he said.

'I think we had no other choice but to act immediately,' the prime minister testified of the decision to launch an offensive after Hezbollah snatched two Israeli soldiers, and killed several others, in a cross-border raid on July 12.

The commission of inquiry into the war, headed by a retired judge, said in its interim report released on April 30 that the government had embarked on the war without setting 'clear goals,' fully weighing other options and thinking through a 'detailed, comprehensive' military plan.'

Since the publication of the scathing report, Olmert and Peretz have been under intense public pressure to resign. Former chief of staff Halutz quit in January, because of the stinging criticism of the way he led the military during the fighting.

The commission is due to issue its final report in July.