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The failures of the past loom large as Israel launches a new military foray into southern Lebanon.

The last time the Israeli military had boots on the ground in Lebanon was a debacle.

The monthlong war that began in July 2006 saw Israeli soldiers bogged down in fierce fighting, as Hezbollah fighters led one tank column after the next into carefully prepared ambushes.

At least 20 tanks were destroyed and 121 Israeli soldiers died. The government-appointed Winograd Commission set up to assess the war’s outcome concluded that “Israel initiated a long war, which ended without its clear military victory”.

That campaign – code-named Operation Change of Direction – resulted in what the commission dubbed a failure. “All in all, the [Israeli military] failed, especially because of the conduct of the high command and the ground forces, to provide an effective military response to the challenge posed to it by the war in Lebanon,” it said.

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