Israeli army chief a casualty in Hezbollah war

Five months after a United Nations resolution brought an end to the war with Hezbollah, Israeli army's Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Dan Halutz, resigned on Tuesday, owning up responsibility for an indecisive outcome that turned the public opinion against the government.

Last summer's war with the Hezbollah after the latter staged a cross-border raid on July 12, was expected to be a short affair, but it lasted 34 days and proved a much tougher affair than anticipated. According to Israeli Army radio, Lt Gen Halutz wrote in his resignation letter: "For me, the concept of responsibility is everything."

Fearing heavy casualties, perhaps, Lt Gen Halutz did not send many ground troops into southern Lebanon, and Israel relied on air-strikes on Hezbollah's rocket launchers. But this strategy did not work, with the Lebanese militia firing more than 100 rockets daily into Israel.

Worse, public opinion turned against the Jewish nation with the Lebanese reporting many civilian casualties. Israel claimed victory when a UN resolution halted the war on August 14, but its public was not happy at the outcome.

In addition, the army man was reported to have sold part of his stocks hours before the war began, which stoked public outrage further.

For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Lt Gen Halutz's exit could not have come at a worse time. Only hours earlier, he was told that he would be probed for his role as finance minister in the privatisation of the Bank of Leumi in 2005. The investigation is expected to last many months, and puts a question mark over his administration which is less than a year old.

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