JERUSALEM, Aug 9: Israel’s appointment of a new top commander to supervise its operations in Lebanon pays testament to the difficulties its troops are encountering in battling Hezbollah fighters there, commentators said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Israeli Chief of Staff Dan Halutz apppointed his deputy, Moshe Kaplinsky, to take charge of operations in south Lebanon, relegating northern command Major General Udi Adam to second fiddle.

Gen Kaplinsky, 49, was appointed to supervise air, sea and land operations as Gen Halutz’ representative in the north until the end of the war, the military said in a statement.

Gen Halutz stressed that the appointment was not a rebuff of Adam’s performance and renewed his “full confidence” to the head of the northern command.

But Israeli media and commentators interpreted the move in no uncertain terms, with the Maariv daily describing the appointment as a “stunning blow” from Halutz to Adam.

“Senior military sources said Adam has conducted the fighting with hesitation and excessive caution,” the newspaper wrote.

“In a way, it’s worse than just sacking Adam, because similar responsibilities are being given to two senior officers when we need one captain at the helm and this will risk adding to the confusion,” military analyst Ran Edelist told AFP.

“The most appalling thing in this story is that General Adam is being sacrificed and is taking the blame from public opinion when in fact the army’s shortcomings are the responsibility of the entire command,” he added.

According to Edelist, Halutz — a 58-year-old former air force chief — overestimated what his air force could achieve in Lebanon and waited too long before requesting ground troop mobilisation — two weeks after the start of the offensive.

At least 65 Israeli soldiers have been killed since Israel launched its massive offensive against Lebanon, following the July 12 capture of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah fighters.

The Israeli military has suffered some of its worst losses in years at the hands of the Shiite guerrilla group, which Israel says is armed and backed by Syria and Iran.

Both Damascus and Tehran say they give only moral support to Hezbollah.

Criticism has also been levelled at Israel’s military intelligence for failing properly to assess the threat posed by Hezbollah, which has exercised complete control over southern Lebanon since Israel pulled out in 2000.

According to the Haaretz daily’s military analyst, Yossi Melman, criticism of the army is exaggerated. Political and military leaders “had ample information about Hezbollah’s rocket arsenal.”

Udi Adam looked set to bear the brunt of the blame. Israeli army radio quoted a senior army official as saying that the general “would have to quit his position when the operation in Lebanon winds up.”

According to the top-selling Yediot Aharonot daily, Adam had warned Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on July 11 — a day before the fighting started — that a war would be perilous and had advised him to explore political channels.

“The general thought that a large-scale offensive in Lebanon would incur high losses for our troops. He may have been wrong but to disavow him now is tantamount to handing a psychological victory to Hezbollah,” Haaretz’s Amir Oren wrote.

Before it launched its offensive against Lebanon, the Israeli army had calculated that it could result in around 90 Israeli deaths.

More than 100 have already died, including 36 civilians, and the fighting looked set to continue as international diplomatic efforts to end the crisis stumbled.

Israel claims it has inflicted heavy losses to the Hezbollah militia’s infrastructure but it has so far failed to prevent the movement from firing a daily barrage of rockets on northern Israeli towns.

General Udi Adam’s snub is reminiscent of an incident in which, a few days after the October 1973 war started, General Shmuel Gonen had dramatically underestimated the strength of Egypt’s land force and was replaced by former chief of staff Haim Bar Lev. —AFP