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Top row from left: Lt. Alexander Schwartzman, Lt. Amihai Merhavia, Sgt. Asaf Namer, Sgt. Ohad Klausner.
Bottom row from left: Lt.-Col. Ro'i Klein, St.-Sgt. Shimon Adega, St.-Sgt. Shimon Dahan, Lt. Yiftah Shrier.
Photo: IDF
Despite approving the call-up of three reserve divisions, the security cabinet decided on Thursday against significantly widening the IDF's operations in southern Lebanon, rejecting a recommendation by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz to escalate the offensive against Hizbullah.
For Jerusalem Online coverage of the day's events >click here.
Halutz, IDF officials said, asked the cabinet for permission to expand Israel's ground operations in southern Lebanon, to insert larger forces to sweep through the Hizbullah strongholds in the area. According to a high-ranking source in the Northern Command, Hizbullah has several hundred underground bunkers in southern Lebanon, mostly near the border with Israel.
Hizbullah fired at least 75 Katyushas at towns and villages throughout the Galilee on Thursday, lightly wounding two people in Kiryat Shmona.
Soldiers of the Golani Brigade return to Israel after rescuing the bodies of their comrades killed in battle.
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
As a result of the cabinet decision, the IDF said the operation in Lebanon, now called "the war within the straits" would retain its current format, according to which brigade and battalion-level forces - not division-level as Halutz had requested - carry out pinpoint incursions on specific targets. The IDF stressed that if Bint Jbail - where eight Golani soldiers were killed on Wednesday - did fall into Israeli hands, the victory could have a ripple effect on other Hizbullah strongholds and cause them to surrender.
Halutz said the IDF would now immediately call up the senior commanders of three reserve divisions. The soldiers, he said, would only be mobilized when the need arose. "We need to be ready for every scenario," Halutz said during a joint press conference with Defense Minister Amir Peretz. "This is the IDF's duty and the government has allowed us to fulfill it [by calling up reservists]."
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"We did not say there would be a change in the nature of the operations, or a widening of the activity, but that we would be prepared for any situation that would necessitate larger forces," Peretz said.
The security cabinet approved the reserves call-up by an 11-1 vote, with Culture and Sport Minister Ophir Paz -Pines casting the lone negative vote. He acted out of concern that the decision would lead to a large-scale ground operation, which he opposes.
Senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office denied reports that the cabinet had slammed the brakes on widening the IDF's operation. This was supported by comments Halutz made at Thursday evening's press conference, in which he realigned his position with Peretz.
"We did not request approval for a ground operation today, so the cabinet did not approve a ground operation," he said. "We asked for the right to prepare the reserves for a time when we might need them, and we got that from the government."
Despite the call-up vote, Peretz told both the press conference and the cabinet that Israel had no intention of broadening the war to include Syria. Concerns were raised in the security cabinet that approval of a call-up would be interpreted by Syria as an indication that Israel was indeed going to widen its operations.
The special session of the security cabinet followed a five-hour meeting of Prime Minister's Olmert's inner cabinet - the so-called Forum of Seven - late Wednesday night.
According to officials in the Prime Minister's Office, five military options were discussed in the Forum of Seven. Widening the ground offensive was one of the options, but not the one preferred by the IDF.
At the press conference Thursday, Peretz deflected criticism of the army's conduct of the was made by Industry and Trade Minister Eli Yishai and Justice Minister Haim Ramon. The two ministers said there should have been more use of air power to soften up targets before ground forces were sent in.
Peretz said that no one was holding the army back, and that the military professionals were making the operational decisions, without intervention from the political echelon. He said that the critics should demonstrate "a little bit of restraint."
