18 years ago Israel and Hezbollah fought a fierce war, the war lasted for 34 days

The Israeli attack in Lebanon has brought back memories of the July War of 2006 when about 1200 Lebanese citizens were killed in the 34-day war. But in the Israeli attack on Monday, about 500 people have died in a single day and more than 1600 people are injured. If the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah continues like this, then this figure can be much higher than the losses in the fierce war of 2006.

There is a decades-old history of tension between Israel and Hezbollah. The Iran-backed Shia rebel organization Hezbollah was formed in the 1980s. At that time, the Israeli army was occupying the southern part of Lebanon, and Hezbollah was given the responsibility of removing it. There were many conflicts between the two in the 90s, but for the first time in 2006, Israel and Hezbollah entered into a direct war. This war that lasted for 34 days between the two is also known as the July War.

On 12 July 2006, Hezbollah fighters attacked the Israeli army during a cross-border raid. In this attack, 3 Israeli soldiers were killed, while 2 were taken hostage. Hezbollah put a condition to release these soldiers in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. The then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called this audacity of Hezbollah an 'act of war'. And after this, a fierce war started between the two.

The next day Israeli fighter jets bombed the runway of Lebanon's only airport, while Hezbollah also started firing rockets at northern Israel. Meanwhile, a Hezbollah rocket targeted an Israeli naval ship, which shocked Israel. Israel tried to eliminate Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah by destroying Hezbollah's headquarters in Beirut, but it did not succeed in this.

According to Al-Jazeera's report, on July 19, in the midst of the war, Israel bombed the southern area of ​​Beirut with about 23 tonnes of bombs. The aim of such heavy bombing was to eliminate Nasrallah. In the first week of the war, Hezbollah fired about 100 rockets on Israel.

It is believed that in this war, Hezbollah proved to be much more powerful than Israel thought. Meanwhile, Israel carried out air strikes in Qana in southern Lebanon, in which about 60 people died, most of the dead were children who were sleeping at the time of the attack. After this, thousands of protesters protested outside the UN building in Beirut. Western countries as well as the UN and Arab countries criticized this bombing.

After this, on July 31, after the meeting of the US Secretary of State and the Israeli Prime Minister, air strikes on southern Lebanon were stopped for 48 hours. During this time, the then US Secretary of State had expressed the possibility of a permanent ceasefire in a week. But the Israeli Security Cabinet gave the army the approval for a ground attack.

Meanwhile, on August 2, Hezbollah fired more than 230 rockets at Israel in a single day, many of these rockets fell about 70 kilometers inside Israel. At least 8 Israeli civilians were killed in these attacks. At the same time, the Hezbollah chief warned Israel that if it bombed Beirut now, his fighters would fire rockets at Tel Aviv.

Hezbollah rockets during the 2006 war. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

UN passes a resolution to stop the war.

Efforts to stop the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah began to intensify, on 7 August 2006 the UNSC passed a resolution to stop this war without any delay. The Lebanese government said that if Israel starts withdrawing its troops from southern Lebanon, then it will deploy its 15,000 soldiers in this part.

Hezbollah rejected the UN ceasefire proposal but supported the deployment of Lebanese government troops. Israel also continued attacks in Lebanon, even attacking Beirut despite Hezbollah's warning. Although Israel and Hezbollah agreed to stop the fighting a few days later, both sides also laid down the condition of accepting the UN resolution to end the war.

On 14 August, a ceasefire came into effect between Israel and Hezbollah as per the UN resolution. According to official figures, 1200 Lebanese citizens including about 250 Hezbollah fighters were killed in this war. At the same time, 121 Israeli soldiers and 44 civilians were killed. It is said that none of the goals set by Israel for this war were achieved. Israel's aim was to release Israeli soldiers without any conditions and destroy Hezbollah's fighting capability. But it was not successful in doing so. It is believed that the assessment made by Israel about Hezbollah and its forces in this war proved to be wrong.

In 2008, Israel released 5 Lebanese prisoners and handed over the bodies of 199 fighters in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers held hostage by Hezbollah. This ended the first and fiercest war between Israel and Hezbollah, but tension and conflict between the two still continue.