The 2006 Lebanon War, known in Lebanon as the July War and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War, was a 34-day military conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel. The principal parties were Hezbollah paramilitary forces and the Israeli military. The conflict started on 12 July 2006, and continued until a United Nations brokered ceasefire went into effect on 14 August 2006, though it formally ended on 8 September 2006 when Israel lifted its naval blockade of Lebanon.
The conflict began when Hezbollah fired Katyusha rockets and mortars at Israeli border villages, diverting attention from another Hezbollah unit that crossed into Israel, killed three Israeli soldiers, and took two others hostage. Israeli troops attempted to rescue the soldiers, but were unsuccessful, losing five more in the attempt. Another five soldiers and five civilians were wounded in the attacks.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and artillery fire on targets in Lebanon, which damaged Lebanese civilian infrastructure, including Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport which Israel said Hezbollah used to import weapons, an air and naval blockade, and a ground invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah then launched more rockets into northern Israel and engaged the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in guerrilla warfare from hardened positions.
The conflict killed more than a thousand people, most of whom were Lebanese; severely damaged Lebanese infrastructure; and displaced 974,184 Lebanese and 300,000-500,000 Israelis, although most, if not all, were able to return to their homes. After the ceasefire, some parts of Southern Lebanon remained uninhabitable due to unexploded cluster bombs.
