'Erroneous' tactics defeated Israeli army in Lebanon

Occupied Jerusalem: The Israeli military failed in its 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah fighters because the top commanders didn't operate and communicate properly, and were late in preparing for a ground offensive, a former general said on Saturday, after conducting an internal investigation.

The reserve general, Udi Shani, also said the army chief at the time, Lieutenant General Dan Halutz, wasn't receptive enough to dissenting views among top commanders and should have spent more time near the front lines, rather than at military headquarters.

"The military failed," Shani told Israel Radio. "It didn't operate properly." "The military failed because it had an erroneous concept," he said, in an apparent reference to the heavy reliance on air strikes against Hezbollah.

The criticism of the army command came just days after a five-member investigative panel, headed by retired Judge Eliyahu Winograd, issued its final report on the 33-day war, criticising both the government and the army for "serious failings and flaws".

In parallel, Shani conducted an internal army investigation of the performance of the top command.

Security: Rocket rooms

Retired senior officers told Israelis yesterday to prepare "rocket rooms" as protection against a rain of missiles expected to be fired at the Jewish state in any future conflict.

Speaking on radio as part of a military propaganda offensive, retired general Udi Shani said: "The next war will see a massive use of ballistic weapons against the whole of Israeli territory."