Israeli army chief of staff resigns
(AP)Updated: 2007-01-17 09:12
JERUSALEM - Israeli army commander Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, under fire for failures in last summer's war in Lebanon, has resigned, the Defense Ministry said early Wednesday.
 Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (R) speaks with Israeli army Chief of Staff General Dan Halutz during a military ceremony in a military base near Tel Aviv in this August 1, 2006 file photo. The chief of Israel's armed forces has tendered his resignation in light of an internal probe into last year's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, a military spokeswoman said on January 17, 2007. [Reuters]  |
Israeli launched a full-scale attack on Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas after they seized the two men and killed three other soldiers in a cross-border raid July 12.
Army Radio reported that Halutz sent his letter of resignation to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying that he was taking responsibility for the outcome of the war.
"For me the concept of responsibility is everything," Halutz wrote, according to Army Radio.
Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz have also come under withering criticism because of decisions made before and during the war.
In its announcement of Halutz's resignation, the military spokesman's office said Halutz had decided to resign now because the dozens of military inquiries into various aspects of the war had been completed.
None of the inquiries concluded that he should step aside or be replaced.
The spokesman's office said both Olmert and Peretz have to accept the resignation before it can go into effect.
There were no immediate comments from the offices of Olmert or Peretz, who have also been criticized for their conduct during the fighting.
The U.N., Israeli and Lebanese officials said the war left more than 1,000 people dead on both sides. Lebanon's Higher Relief Council, a government group, says the majority of those killed were Lebanese civilians. UNICEF said that about a third of them were children.
The fatalities included 159 in Israel, including 39 civilians killed in rocket attacks.
Israel claims 600 Hezbollah fighters were killed, but that figure has not been substantiated. Hezbollah claims that only 250 of its fighters were killed.
Halutz resigned before a government-appointed committee, which has the power to call on him to step aside, could issue its findings on the war.
The chorus of calls for his resignation swelled in the immediate aftermath of the war, ebbed, then surged again months later after an internal panel submitted a scathing report on the raid that touched off the fighting.
More recently, an inquiry by a former chief of staff found that the war's goals were vaguely defined, and that there was faulty work in command centers.
Reserves generals have criticized Halutz, a former air force chief, for focusing too much on aerial bombardments and not enough on ground operations.
Critics have also questioned his decision to send troops on a last-minute push in which more than 30 soldiers died.
Reports from the battlefield, meanwhile, described a military command that sent troops out to battle inadequately armed, clothed and fed.
Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski, who was dispatched to the Lebanon front to assume command during the war, told Israel TV last week that he would be a candidate for chief of staff after Halutz leaves. Kaplinski is currently serving as deputy chief of staff.
Another candidate is Maj. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who has served in several command positions.
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