The war came about as a result of continuous provocations against Israel by Hezbollah, which culminated on July 12, 2006 when a squad of Lebanese-Shiite Hezbollah terrorists, funded and directed by Iran, crossed the Israeli border and ambushed two Israeli Defense Force patrol jeeps. Amidst the fray, roadside explosives were detonated and eight Israeli soldiers were killed. During that same raid, Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli reservists: Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whom they either murdered or denied medical care. Simultaneously, Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets at northern Israel communities.
Iran continues to use the Lebanese arena as a military lever against Israel, one which threatens to explode in a third war — albeit, a more all-engulfing regional conflict.
To divert attention from the Iranian Islamic Republic’s rejection of Western demands that Iran negotiate an alternative to its uranium enrichment, Iran ordered Hezbollah terrorists to attack Israeli soldiers. CNN reported on June 5, 2006 that, “In a move aimed at ending the diplomatic standoff (over Iran’s nuclear program) the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council, along with Germany, agreed to a ’set of far reaching proposals’ that will form the foundation for resuming talks with Iran.” The war that began in earnest six days later in Lebanon between Hezbollah – an Iranian proxy also supported by Syria – and Israel did indeed shift attention away from Iran’s disregard of the proposals made by the UN Security Council permanent members.
In the aftermath of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 was passed. It prohibited Hezbollah from rearming, and called for the Lebanese army to deploy 15,000 troops in South Lebanon. It charged the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with the responsibility to implement the resolution
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