A look back at the July 2006 war: Destruction and death toll tragedy

The July 2006 war witnessed a war much like the ongoing situation in Gaza today, where Israel's actions did not discriminate between human lives and inanimate objects within the Lebanese borders.

The war, later known as the Second Lebanon War, began when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers who were subsequently killed in the kidnapping operation. It destroyed Lebanon and cost it dearly in terms of its infrastructure, transportation network, primary sectors, and the closure of all its air, sea, and land ports.

However, the human losses were also high at the civilian and military levels.

Israel's response involved airstrikes across various Lebanese territories, while simultaneously launching a ground offensive in the south. Villages, towns, and buildings were targeted under the pretext of harboring Hezbollah members.

One of the tragic events of this war was the Qana massacre, which took place on July 30, 2006, claiming the lives of 55 people, including 27 children, in a three-story building. Israel's indiscriminate and destructive bombardment destroyed homes inhabited by children, women, and the elderly.

The war, which lasted for 33 days, ultimately claimed 1,149 lives in Lebanon, a toll that became clear only at the end of the war.

The High Relief Committee reported 1,040 civilian deaths, along with 35 Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces (ISF) personnel. Hezbollah acknowledged the death of 61 fighters, while the Amal Movement reported seven casualties, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command reported one death.

Additionally, four UN observers were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their post in the town of Khiam, along with one member of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The number of wounded individuals reached around 3,600.

The human losses were not confined to Lebanon. The Israeli military ground incursion in the south and Hezbollah's missile attacks on Israeli settlements, together with other factors, resulted in 156 Israeli deaths, comprising 115 military personnel and 41 civilians. Over 5,000 individuals, military and civilian, were injured during the war.

The 2006 Lebanon-Israel War also witnessed unprecedented battlefield developments. Most notably, Hezbollah lived up to the slogan "What Comes After Haifa," successfully launching long-range rockets, four times more powerful and far-reaching than its traditional Katyusha rockets, deep into Israeli territory. 

The group also targeted the Israeli Navy in regional waters and engaged in urban warfare on the border strip. This new form of warfare led to significant Israeli losses at the time.

This type of war, which dealt heavy blows to the Israeli army, is believed to pose a more significant threat to Israel if it were to recur in southern Lebanon today, given Hezbollah's accumulated experience and capabilities over the past years.