Operation Grapes of Wrath
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Operation Grapes of Wrath (Hebrew: מבצע ענבי זעם) is the Israeli Defense Forces code-name (Hezbollah calls it April War) for a sixteen-day military blitz against Lebanon in 1996 in an attempt to end shelling of Northern Israel by Hezbollah. Israel conducted more than 1,100 air raids and extensive shelling (some 25,132 shells). A UN installation was also hit by Israeli shelling causing the death of 118 Lebanese civilians. (Amnesty 1996) 639 Hezbollah cross-border rocket attacks targeted northern Israel, particularly the town of Kiryat Shemona. (HRW 1997) Hezbollah forces also participated in numerous engagements with Israeli and South Lebanon Army forces. The conflict was de-escalated on 27 April by a ceasefire agreement banning attacks on civilians.
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[edit] Historical Background
After continual cross border attacks committed by forces in Southern Lebanon, the Israeli army invaded Lebanon for the second time in 1982, starting the 1982 Lebanon War. After three months it occupied the capital city of Beirut. Over the next three years the Israeli army partially withdrew, until in 1985 it established what it called the "Security Buffer Zone" in Southern Lebanon. Armed resistance against Israeli occupation never stopped and in 1993 Israel responded with a massive attack against Lebanon (Operation Accountability) to disrupt the actions of Hezbollah, the major resistance force. The military campaign was ultimately unsuccessful as Hezbollah continued attacking targets in both Lebanon and northern Israel, including Israeli armed forces, South Lebanon Army militia and civilian areas.[1] The Israeli military shelled targets often in very close proximity to or inside civilian areas, frequently causing the death of many civilians.[2] In April 1996, Israel decided it would once again attempt to subdue Hezbollah, and Operation Grapes of Wrath was launched.
[edit] Casus Belli
While armed conflict between the IDF and South Lebanon Army (SLA) on one hand and Hezbollah and other Lebanese militias (such as Amal) on the other was often intense prior to late March 1996, it was largely restricted to the Israeli controlled area of South Lebanon and military targets.
On March 30, two men were killed by an IDF missile while working on a water tower in Yafar, Lebanon. Hezbollah responded by launching 20 missiles into northern Israel and the IDF acknowledged the attack as a mistake. A roadside bomb explosion that caused the death of a 14-year old Lebanese boy and injury of three others in the village of Barashit was cited by Hezbollah as the reason for firing 30 missiles into northern Israel on 9 April. (UNIFIL 1996; Amnesty 1996) Israeli officials announced Operation Grapes of Wrath on April 11 as a retaliatory and preventative action for Hezbollah shelling, which had injured six Israeli civilians. (Amnesty 1996)
[edit] Operation
In the early morning of 11 April, Israeli aircraft and artillery began an intensive bombardment of southern Lebanon as well as targets in the Beirut area and in the Bekaa Valley. The declared objective of these attacks was to put pressure on the Government of Lebanon so that it would curb the activities of Hezbollah. Israel conducted air raids, on targets which included Katyusha launchers, Hezbollah installations and personnel, as well as vehicles and civilian infrastructure, some of which Israel claimed were being used for military purposes. The raids were accompanied by radio broadcasts urging residents to flee the area. Somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 did so.
Beginning April 13, Israel blockaded the ports of Beirut, Sidon and Tyre. Near Beirut, a Syrian military post was bombed on April 12 by Israeli aircraft, resulting in the death of one soldier and injuring seven others. On April 14 and 15, the Beirut area electric power stations at Jumhour and Bsaleem were attacked. (HRW 1996)
Given the large number of inhabitants who remained behind, IDF did not in fact treat the whole area as a free-fire zone. Once it had run out of targets, it conducted, with great firepower, attacks on sources of firing and other targets of opportunity, as well as pre-emptive bombardment of locations from which attacks were known to have been launched in the past.
In the last few days of the operation, the Israeli forces targeted the main roads in southern Lebanon using heavy bombs dropped by aircraft.
[edit] Aftermath
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Altogether, Some 154 civilians (HRW 1997) to 170 Lebanese (ICRC 1997) were killed in Lebanon in attacks, including more than 106 civilians who died in the Qana shelling and 9 civilians killed in an attack in Nabatiyeh when Israeli warplanes rocketed a two-story building where they were sleeping. The Israeli army claimed that anti-aircraft fire was directed at its planes from the area around the building. Amnesty International was not able to confirm whether or not those claims were true or not.
Some 350 civilians were wounded in Lebanon (HRW 1997). 62 Israeli civilians were wounded in Israel [3][4]
The damage to the Lebanese infrastructure was significant as major bridges and power stations were destroyed. According to Human Rights Watch, 2018 houses and buildings in South Lebanon were either completely destroyed or severely bombarded. Lebanon's total economic damage was estimated at $500 million by economist Marwan Iskandar (and endorsed as accurate by the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies): $140 million in rebuilding damaged infrastructure, $30 million for assisting those displaced, $260 in lost economic output, and $70 in losses due to delays in economic projects.[5] Israel estimated the total damage it suffered at 150 million shekels as of Tuesday, July 18. Earlier, the damage to Israeli civilian property was estimated at 20 million NIS (about $7 million), and the indirect damage to Israel's tourism industry at 40 million NIS (about $13 million) [6]. Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres mounted an intense campaign to persuade the Lebanese that this punishment had come down upon them because of Hizbullah’s continued presence and anti-IDF activities and that they had only to repudiate and dismantle Hizbullah for it to stop. But because of Hizbullah’s political activities over the preceding years, virtually the entire Lebanese body politic closed ranks around it. Not only was there no mention of “dismantling” Hizbullah, but the agreement—signed by Lebanon, Israel, the United States, France, and Syria—specifically allowed Hizbullah to continue its military activities against IDF forces inside Lebanon.[3]
[edit] Response by Al-Qaeda associated individuals
The deaths of civilians in Operation Grapes of Wrath and in particular at Qana have been cited by Al-Qaeda as motivations for its actions and policies towards the United States of America. Mohammed Atta is described in Lawrence Wright's account of the September 11, 2001 attacks to have committed himself to martyrdom in immediate response to the Israel strikes at the beginning of Operation Grapes of Wrath.[4]
In his 23 August 1996 declaration of jihad against the United States, Osama bin Laden wrote (addressing his fellow Muslims), "Your blood has been spilt in Palestine and Iraq, and the horrific image of the massacre in Qana in Lebanon are still fresh in people’s minds." In November 1996, he told the Australian journal Nida'ul Islam about Qana again, saying that when the United States government accuses terrorists of killing innocents it is "accusing others of their own afflictions in order to fool the masses."
[edit] Ceasefire
Hostilities retreated from their escalated level following the reaching of an Israeli-Lebanese Ceasefire Understanding - an informal written agreement - under American diplomatic auspices. The understanding was announced at 18:00, April 26, 1996, and became effective at 04:00 on April 27. The agreement barred cross-border attacks on civilian targets, as well as using civilian villages to launch attacks. The Monitoring Committee for the Implementation of the Grapes of Wrath Understandings was set up, comprising representatives from the U.S., France, Syria, Israel and Lebanon. The committee convenes to monitor and discuss infringements of the understandings by the two sides.
[edit] See also
[edit] Sources
- Bregman, Ahron (2002). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-28716-2
- Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SUMMARY OF OPERATION GRAPES OF WRATH PRESS CONFERENCE15-Apr-96
- Amnesty International, Unlawful Killings During Operation "Grapes of Wrath", July 1996.
- Human Rights Watch, MILITARY OPERATIONS BY LEBANESE GUERRILLA FORCES, September 1997.
- Operation Grapes of Wrath timeline, Israel News Lexicon, August 2006.
- Human Rights Watch, Operation Grapes of Wrath: The Civilian Victims, September 1997.
- Human Rights Watch, Civilian Pawns: Laws of War Violations and the Use of Weapons on the Israel-Lebanon Border, May 1996.
- International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, "Lebanon," Annual Report 1996.
- Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Understanding
- Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, Costs of Grapes of Wrath, 1996.
- United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, Report of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, (for the period from 22 January 1996 to 20 July 1996), UN Document S/1996/575, 1996.
[edit] External link
- The Real Israeli Interests in Lebanon by Israel Shahak, in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, July 1996, pgs. 19, 11
- www.lebanon-israel.info An ongoing discussion on the Lebanon-Israel conflict
[edit] References
- ^ Israel/Lebanon
- ^ Israel
- ^ Helena Cobban: Hizbullah's New Face
- ^ Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Knopf. ISBN 0-375-41486-X.
