Israel-Hezbollah war 2006

The 2006 Israel–Hezbollah war, also called the Second Lebanon War in Israel and the July War in Lebanon, was a 34-day armed conflict between Israel and the Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah, fought primarily in southern Lebanon and northern Israel between 12 July and 14 August 2006.

The trigger was a cross-border Hezbollah raid on 12 July 2006 in which fighters killed several Israeli soldiers and captured two reservists, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Israel responded with a large-scale air campaign, a naval blockade of Lebanese ports, and, in the final phase, a ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Hezbollah launched roughly 4,000 rockets into northern Israel during the war, including Katyusha and longer-range systems that reached Haifa and beyond.

The conflict caused heavy civilian harm and infrastructure damage. Lebanese authorities and UN agencies reported well over 1,000 Lebanese killed, the majority civilians, and roughly a million displaced. Israel reported around 160 dead, the majority soldiers, with tens of thousands of northern residents displaced or sheltering. Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport, bridges, power stations, and the southern suburb of Dahieh were heavily struck; the Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona and Haifa's port area also sustained damage.

Hostilities ended with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 (11 August 2006), which called for a full cessation of hostilities, the withdrawal of Israeli forces, deployment of the Lebanese Armed Forces south of the Litani River, and a reinforced UNIFIL mandate. The ceasefire took effect 14 August 2006.

Politically, the war is widely seen as inconclusive. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared a "divine victory" but later said he would not have ordered the raid had he anticipated the response. In Israel, the Winograd Commission (interim report April 2007, final January 2008) sharply criticised the government and IDF planning, contributing to the political decline of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. The war reshaped Israeli northern doctrine, hardened Hezbollah's rocket arsenal, and set the strategic backdrop for later Israel–Hezbollah escalation, including the 2023–2024 hostilities.