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Operation Accountability

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Operation Accountability
Part of the Israeli-Lebanese conflict and the South Lebanon conflict (1985–2000)
Date25–31 July 1993 (1993-07-25 – 1993-07-31)
Location
Lebanon, northern Israel
Result Cease fire on civilian targets; much Lebanese infrastructure destroyed.
Belligerents
Israel Israel
SLA		 Hezbollah
Commanders and leaders
 Hassan Nasrallah
Casualties and losses
  • 1 killed
  • 3 wounded
  • 2 Israeli civilians killed
  • 24 Israeli civilians wounded
  • 140 Lebanese civilians killed[2]
  • 500 Lebanese civilians wounded[3]
  • 300,000 Lebanese civilians displaced[4]

On July 25, 1993, Israeli forces launched a week-long attack against Lebanon named Operation Accountability (Hebrew: מבצע דין וחשבון, romanized: Mivtza Din VeHeshbon) in Israel and the Seven-Day War in Lebanon. Israel specified three purposes to the operation, to strike directly at Hezbollah, to make it difficult for Hezbollah to use southern Lebanon as a base for striking Israel, and to displace refugees in the hopes of pressuring the Lebanese government to intervene against Hezbollah.[5] The affected civilian population included both Lebanese and Palestinian refugees.

Historical background

During the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah was among several militant groups formed in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Though chiefly funded by Iran, and later Syria,[citation needed] Hezbollah grew out of Lebanon’s Shia community.

When the Taif Agreement was signed, it amended the Lebanese constitution to end the civil war, and disband all Lebanese militias. Argument then arose over whether Hezbollah's existence in Lebanon displayed a failure of the government, a blind eye, or clandestine support. Hezbollah launched a public relations campaign, political statements and a political program. As a result, the Lebanese government classified Hezbollah's military wing, the "Islamic Resistance" as a resistance movement aimed at ending the Israeli occupation and not as a militia. Thus, the organization was exempted from disbanding and disarming.[6][page needed]

The Taif accord called for an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon based on UN Resolution 425 and explicitly allowed resistance against the Israeli occupation "by all means", including militarily. Hezbollah stated that it would continue to oppose Israeli occupation as a "resistance group", since they were actually protected by the agreement. Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah secretary general, also declared that while the Taif Agreement was a cessation of the Lebanese Civil War, Hezbollah had never involved itself in that war, and only existed to fight the foreign troops stationed in the country. [citation needed]

At the time Hizbollah claimed to have 3,000 fighters but some commentators estimated that the actual figure was 600-700.[7] UNIFIL had 580 soldiers stationed in southern Lebanon close to the border with Israel.[8]

Casus belli

Israeli helicopters attacked a refugee camp near Tyre, 25 June 1993, and two days later they also attacked one of the Shia villages in their ‘security zone’. The following day Hezbollah responded by firing rockets into northern Israel.[9] On 8 July two Israeli soldiers were killed by the PFLP-GC after which an Israeli helicopter fired rockets at their headquarters near Naameh wounding three. A day later three Israelis were killed and five wounded in a clash with Hizbollah.[10] Around the same time an explosion at a Hizbollah depot in the Beqaa Valley, blamed on the Israelis, killed at least five Iranians.[11] On 22 July an Israeli soldier was killed after Hizbollah fighters overran a SLA position.[12][13]

Participants

The IDF artillery fired 25,000 rounds. The IAF used 1,000 pound bombs. The Israeli Navy were also used in the bombardments. Hezbollah fired 150 rockets into northern Israel.[14] The SLA, which was cooperating with the IDF, broadcast radio warnings for civilians to leave specific villages and the region on its radio station.

Violations of the laws of war

According to Human Rights Watch and other human rights organizations, both sides in the conflict violated the laws of war by attacking civilian targets.[15]

During the week-long operation, Israel bombarded thousands of houses and buildings resulting in 3-400,000 civilians being displaced from southern Lebanon with 150,000 arriving in Beirut.[16] Of the ninety towns and villages attacked fifty-five were heavily damaged.[17] Israeli forces also destroyed much Lebanese infrastructure and civilian targets, such as major electricity stations and bridges, and have been accused of failing to take adequate measures to minimize civilian casualties, and may have used weapons inappropriate for the environment.

Hezbollah retaliated with rocket attacks on Israeli civilian targets, though it inflicted significantly fewer casualties. They were also accused of hiding small arms in civilian houses.

Ultimately, Israel declared that it attacked Hezbollah targets only to pressure Hezbollah to stop attacking Israeli civilians – while Hezbollah declared similar motive for their attacks along with liberating of Southern Lebanon.

Outcome

A ceasefire was reached after a week, negotiated by the United States, in a form of an oral agreement.[18] Global Security, a US-based organization that attempts to provide accurate facts without opinion, wrote: "An oral agreement was reached whereby Israel agreed to refrain from attacking civilian targets in Lebanon while the Hizballah pledged to stop firing rockets into northern Israel."[13] The agreement, brokered by US Secretary of State Warren Christopher legitimised Hizbollah operations against the IDF inside the security zone.[19] Another consequence of the agreement was the Lebanese army establishing bases in four villages with around 300 troops inside the UNIFIL area adjacent to the security zone. On 19 August seven Israeli soldiers were killed in a Hizbollah ambush near Shahin with one more later dying of his wounds; another soldier was killed in a separate incident. Two Hizbollah fighters were killed in airstrikes near Baalbek and targets close to the Syrian border.[20]

However, that agreement was not completely respected. The next major engagement, Operation Grapes of Wrath, occurred in April 1996.

In addition to the deaths of 118 Lebanese civilians, a disputed number of Hezbollah combatants were also killed. Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri said that eight had been killed, while Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin claimed more than fifty. There were two Israeli civilians killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks.[21] One Israeli soldier was killed, and three wounded.

In May 2000, Israel left all of the Lebanese occupied territories, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 425, twenty-two years after the adoption of that resolution.

Bibliography

  • Bregman, Ahron (2016). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28716-2
  • Tveit, Odd Karsten (2010) Goodbye Lebanon. Israel's First Defeat. Rimal Publication. Translated by Peter Scott-Hansen. ISBN 978-9963-715-03-9

References

  1. ^ Bregman (2016), p. 272
  2. ^ Bregman (2016), p. 272
  3. ^ Bregman (2016), p. 272
  4. ^ Human Rights Watch/Middle East (1996). Civilian Pawns: Laws of War Violations and the Use of Weapons on the Israel-Lebanon Border. Human Rights Watch. p. 8. ISBN 1564321673.
  5. ^ Israel/Lebanon
  6. ^ Alagha, Joseph: The Shifts in Hizbullah's Ideology. Religious Ideology, Political Ideology, and Political Program. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006
  7. ^ Middle East International No 456, 6 August 1993, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; Editor Michael Adams; Godfery Jansen p.9
  8. ^ MEI No 456 Jules Kagain p.6
  9. ^ Middle East International No 454, 9 July 1993, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; June chronology p.15
  10. ^ Middle East International No 455, 23 July 1993, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; Jim Muir pp.8-9
  11. ^ Middle East International No 455, 23 July 1993, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; Safa Haeri p.9
  12. ^ Middle East International No 456, 6 August 1993, Publishers Lord Mayhew, Dennis Walters MP; July chronology p.15
  13. ^ a b Operation Accountability
  14. ^ MEI No 456, Donald Neff p.7
  15. ^ Human Rights Watch wrote: 'Both sides have taken actions against civilians whenever the other side was seen as failing to live up to the terms of the "contract" that governed their relationship from July 1993 until April 1996.'
  16. ^ Israel
  17. ^ MEI No 456 Jim Muir p.3; Haim Baram p.4
  18. ^ Lebanon (Civil War 1975–1991)
  19. ^ Middle East International No 457, 28 August 1993. Haim Baram pp.6-7
  20. ^ MEI #457 Gerald Butt p.4-5
  21. ^ Document Information | Amnesty International Archived 2006-04-12 at the Wayback Machine

Further reading

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