The Operation Change of Direction 11 was the final offensive operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) during the 2006 Lebanon War that began on August 11, 2006, and ended three days later when the ceasefire came into effect. It involved a tripling of Israeli forces inside Lebanon and aimed at encircling Hizbullah forces in south Lebanon. The plan was to advance westwards along the Litani River from the Galilee Panhandle, combined with helicopter landings behind enemy lines, intended to be the largest in IDF history, and simultaneous advances northwards in the central sector and along the Mediterranean coast. The plan was to follow up the offensive by several weeks of mopping-up operations in the surrounded territories, eliminating Hizbullah infrastructure, especially in the launching areas of Katyusha rockets.
The offensive was called off halfway due to heavy casualties and the implementation of the UN ceasefire. At least 33 Israeli officers and soldiers were killed and over 400 were wounded, an Israeli Air Force (IAF) helicopter was shot down and scores of Israeli tanks were damaged. The IDF never reached the Litani river and failed to surround Hizbullah forces in South Lebanon. Instead the Israeli government on August 13, accepted a ceasefire in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701. When the ceasefire commenced the following day IDF found itself in control of 16 different pockets or sectors in South Lebanon, often isolated from each other and from Israeli territory. IDF expressed a desire to withdraw from these positions as quickly as possible, as soon as a ceasefire agreement was in place. Hizbullah remained in control of both Bint Jbeil and Ayta ash-Sha'b, close to the border, while IDF soldiers were operating well to the north of both these towns.
The Plan
According to the plan Brig. Gen. Eyal Eisenberg’s Reserve 98th Paratrooper Division would be airlifted to the central sector, south of the Litani river, in what was envisioned as the largest airlift in IDF history. Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch’s 91st Division would proceed north and link up with Eisenberg’s forces. Brig. Gen. Guy Tzur’s 162nd Armored Division would cross the Sulouqi/Hujeir river from the east along the Litani and sweep west and link up with the other IDF forces at Juwwiya. With the exception of the city of Tyre the entire South Lebanon, south of the Litani river, would then be effectively surrounded by Israeli forces. Brig. Gen. Erez Zuckerman' 366th Division was assigned to capture al-Khiyam and the adjoining areas from where rocket fire was directed at Northern Israel.
The Israeli government was initially determined to continue the fighting in spite of the Security Council resolution's call for a cease-fire by 8 AM August 14. The IDF command had asked for at least a full month of fighting to complete the mission; one week to capture the territory south of the Litani, two to four weeks for mopping-up operations and another week for the exit. When the operation was finally launched IDF had only 60 hours before the ceasefire would eventually commence.
IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said the IDF would fight until the ceasefire was implemented. Israeli Government officials claimed that IDF operations would not stop "until the army's goals were reached, despite the passage of UN Security Council resolution 1701."
The battles in the North
The fighting in the north was formally not part of Operation Change of Direction 11 but were preparatory steps for its implementation. On the night of August 8, units belonging to the reserve brigade of the 366th Division (Pillar of Fire Formation), under the command of Brigadier General Erez Zuckerman, advanced northward and reached the Christian town of Marj'ayoun, 9 kilometers from the border. The Israeli forces initially did not encounter any resistance and there were no clashes inside the town. It appears that a secular leftist party (probably the SSNP) aligned to Hezbullah eventually offered some resistance. Fighting erupted outside Marj'ayoun and the nearby Shiite town of al-Khiyam. A supply convoy was hit by missiles. Israeli media reported that IDF forces began August 8, operating "in al-Khiam", from where a large number of rockets were being fired at northern Galilee.
The day after the Israeli Cabinet finally approved the advance towards the Litani.
On August 10, an Israeli tank belonging to the 366th Division got stuck near the Christian town of al-Qulay’ah, facing the Shi’ite town of al-Khiyam, on the other side of the valley. A column of tanks that came to its rescue were targeted by Hizbullah missiles. Several tanks took hits and seven soldiers were injured, four of them seriously.
The entire battalion got involved in the rescue mission, after which the battalion promptly returned to Israeli territory, ignoring orders to continue the advance towards Marj'ayoun. Apparently the battalion commander’s tank was left stranded in the town with only an APC to back him up. The brigade commander was therefore relieved of his command after the war. The unit became known after the war as "the brigade that ran away."
Another battalion commander from the same brigade was ordered into Lebanon to assist in the evacuation of the trapped units. He expressed his reservations about advancing in broad daylight and asked to be relieved of his command.
One of the tank crew members later wrote about his experience. The tank company was attacking al-Khiyam at nighttime, circling it and firing into the town when one of the tanks broke down. It had to be towed by a second tank back to Israel, approximately 7 kilometers away. The two tanks could only move by five kilometers an hour and failed to reach Israeli territory before dawn. Both tanks were hit by Kornet missiles that hit the tanks in exactly the same spot, the engine grille and both were penetrated. One of the crew members were killed. Both tanks started burning and were abandoned. The tank crews hid in a ditch before being evacuated by APC's more than an hour later.
Anthony Shadid reported that Hezbullah fighters claimed to have hit and damaged up to a dozen Israeli tanks outside al-Khiyam.
The 366th Division does not seem to have resumed offensive action for the duration of the war and never completed the missions assigned to it. Uri Bar-Yosef described the two-day stand-off as "one of the most humiliating operations in the history of the Israel Defense Forces." A two-day stand-off between an Israeli armored division and an “handful of Hezbollah fighters”. A few months after the war Brig.-Gen. Erez Zuckerman told the IDF Chief of Staff "I have failed, and I resign."
The Marj’ayoun tea party
The Marj'ayoun garrison of troops from the Lebanese Internal Security Forces did not resist the IDF occupation. The commander General Adnan Daoud invited Israeli soldiers for tea and let them inspect the base. The Israeli troops were accompanied by an Israeli TV team. The pictures of the "Marj'ayoun tea party" were broadcast on Israeli television and soon also on Hizbullah TV channel al-Manar. The scandal lead to General Daoud being placed in house arrest.
An hour after the departure of the Israeli soldiers, four Israeli tanks drove up to the gate of the barracks and blasted the gate. The 350 Lebanese soldiers surrendered without a fight and were disarmed and taken prisoners. The Lebanese soldiers were later released and allowed to evacuate the town. The evacuation convoy was joined by hundreds of cars with civilians, mainly Christians wanting to leave the battle zone. Although the evacuation convoy was coordinated with IDF through UNIFIL it was targeted by an air strike killing of at least seven people.
One of several ambitious targets set by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in his speech in the Knesset on July 17, 2006 was the deployment of the Lebanese army in "all of Southern Lebanon". It was also one of the cornerstones of the resolution being finalized at the same time in Security Council. On August 17, the Lebanese army returned to the barracks of Marj’ayoun as part of the cease-fire arrangements.
Central and Western sectors
The Paratrooper Division began carrying out preparatory tasks on the night of 8–9 August. IDF forces occupied the Christian village of Dibil, situated to the north of Ayta ash-Sha’b (which was surrounded but still unoccupied) in the central sector. An engineering unit hid in a building in the outskirts of the village but was spotted by Hizbullah scouts and was hit by two missiles fired from Ayta ash-Sha’b. Nine soldiers were killed and 31 wounded. None of them had even fired a single bullet.
The division was ordered to proceed north to the Shiite village of Rashaf, occupy it and open a supply route to the area. The village was eventually occupied but the supply route was not secured. When the cease fire came into effect, the division had advanced about a mile northwards.
Brigadier General Gal Hirsch’s Division 91 was ordered to move west from its positions north of Bint Jbeil towards the Mediterranean coast. "The action proved chaotic" and the operation "fell far short of the mark" by war’s end.
According to the Winograd Commission Division 91 was commissioned with the task of occupying the remaining Hizbullah strongholds near the border, such as Bint Jbeil and Ayta ash-Sha'b. The Report gives no details but notes that both towns remained in Hizbullah hands.
The Alexandroni brigade fought in the western sector. The brigade finally took up position along the coastal road near al-Mansouri after an operation that took eight days rather than the planned 36 hours. The soldiers suffered hard from lack of food and water and dozens collapsed from dehydration and had to be evacuated. The brigade commander Maj. Nati Barak decided not to send his soldiers after Hizbullah fighters hiding in the nearby village. "I have mercy on my soldiers' lives," Barak said. IDF forces managed to advance about one mile north of al-Mansouri by the time the war ended on 14 August.
The Bmaryamin landing
Friday evening the paratroop brigade under the command of Col. Hagai Mordechai was airlifted to the Bmaryamin plain outside the villages of Yatar and Kafra. For some reason the landing took place much to the south than what was originally planned. According to Harel and Issacharoff the immediate target was the occupation of "village of Jabel-Amal" (probably a mistranslation referring to the town of Yatar in the district of Jabal 'Amil). Yatar was described as "the headquarters of the [Hizbullah] Nasr unit's Second Territorial Subdivision." The mission was to significantly reduce the rocket fire being launched from the area.
Optimism was booming in the Israeli Army Command. According to intelligence estimates Hizbullah was withdrawing. During the night Defence Minister Amir Peretz called Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Listen, Hezbollah’s in trouble," Peretz said excitedly to Olmert. "Believe me, there’s never been a flight like this in history. Everything’s going great. If it continues like this, it’ll be spectacular."
When the first Yas’ur (CH-53 Sea Stallion) helicopter took off, after unloading its soldiers, it was hit by a missile and burst into flames and the crew of five was killed instantly. The helicopter was probably shot down with a shoulder-fired, infrared guided SA-7 missile. Five Israeli crew members were killed, including two senior officers and Sgt.-Maj. Keren Tendler, the only female IDF soldier to die in the war.
The Bmaryamin landing was supposed to be the largest heliborne operation in the history of the IDF. After the downing of the helicopter it was apparent that the landing zone had been compromised and that Hizbullah had prepared ambushes in the area. Headquarters decided to call off further landings. Paratroop commander Col. Hagai Mordechai was ordered not to proceed to the target but to abort the mission and hide at the landing zone until next nightfall. More than 200 Paratroopers had landed safely and Mordechai deemed this to be sufficient to carry out the original orders. Instead a precious 24 hours were lost. The next night the mission was again aborted, this time apparently by direct orders from the Prime Minister. Mordechai told an Israeli reporter: "I didn’t think that at this age I’d find myself hiding in the bushes," The paratroopers were never given the opportunity to carry out their assignments. The ceasefire was to take effect at 8 AM the following morning. The paratroopers instead used the darkness of the night and started withdrawing on foot to Israeli territory.
A total of 17 IDF soldiers died in the central and western sectors in Operation Change of Direction 11.
The battles in the north-eastern sector
What became known in Israel as the Battle of Wadi Saluki is called the Battle of Wadi al-Hujeir in Lebanon. Wadi as-Sulouqi originates in the area of Bint Jubeil and runs north several kilometers west of the Israel-Lebanon border until it turns west near the town of at-Tayyiba. The wadi is renamed Wadi al-Hujeir when it meets the western contributory and turns north before it joins the Litani River near the Qa'qa'iya bridge. The area was the obvious route of any Israeli attempt to cut south Lebanon off at the Litani river. Both the Israeli invasions in 1978 and 1982 passed through this area.