From: Middle East Monitor July 12, 2018
34 day war July 12-August 14, 2006 missed opportunity for Israel

Initially, both Israel and Hezbollah claimed victory in the war, with Nasrallah declaring that Hezbollah had achieved a “divine, historic and strategic victory”.

Some international observers saw the fact that Hezbollah had survived the Israeli assault, despite the asymmetrical power balance, as a PR victory for the group.

In Israel, the war has since come to be seen as a military failure for its inability to disarm or destroy Hezbollah.

A commission of inquiry subsequently appointed by the Israeli government, the Winograd Commission, labelled the war a “missed opportunity” and revealed shortcomings in Israel’s decision-making processes.

Many in the Israeli security establishment rued what they saw as a missed historic opportunity in September 2003 when they had planes ready to bomb a house where the entire Hamas leadership was holding a meeting.

After furious argument in the military chain of command, the air force used a precision missile fired into the presumed meeting room, rather than flattening the whole building with a hail of bombs, out of concern for civilian casualties.

They picked the wrong room and the Hamas leaders survived.