On July 12 last year, Hezbollah raided an Israeli military post and captured two Israeli soldiers. Three others died in the attack.

Five other soldiers were killed that day, four instantly, and one later, when a tank struck a mine. This however, according to Haaretz newspaper, occurred six kilometres inside Lebanese territory.

The Hezbollah attack was staged to capture soldiers to use for a prisoner-exchange with Israel, a strategy adopted by both sides in the past. According to Human Rights Watch, targeting and capture of enemy soldiers is allowed under international humanitarian law.

Immediately on securing the capture of the soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, Hezbollah announced it wanted a prisoner exchange.

However what it got in response was an all-out attack on Lebanon.

Israel launched massive airstrikes and artillery fire on targets which included Beirut International Airport, the country's ports, power stations, telecommunications towers, residential buildings, commercial buildings, gas stations, bridges, roads, and highways, and in so doing, punctured the Lebanese economy. Israel imposed a sea and air blockade, and then launched a massive ground offensive. More than 1,000 civilians were killed, and thousands more injured.

Israel maintained it was responding to the capture of its soldiers, however Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is now being reported as admitting he had been planning the war against Lebanon from March last year, some four months prior. He has also admitted he planned to launch the war in the event of any Israeli soldiers being captured, and says he expected this to occur.

In another major revelation the Israeli prime minister explained he had delayed a ceasefire for 48 hours so he could launch a major ground offensive to pressure the UN Security Council to give in to concessions Israel was seeking.

He also stunned the inquiry with the disclosure that he had been consulting with U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French President Jacques Chirac on plans to disarm Hezbollah and impose Lebanese army forces on the border, at the same time agreeing to consider Israel giving up the disputed Shabaa Farms area.

In a further revelation he says he spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on the day the war started. He says Rice asked that the Lebanese government not be undermined, which Olmert says he took to mean the country's infrastructure not be attacked, something the Israeli military had already decided to do.

The Winograd Commission, which heard Olmert's evidence, is a commission of inquiry established by the government, and chaired by retired judge Eliyahu Winograd. It is investigating the events and circumstances surrounding the Lebanon war, and in particular, from Israel's point of view, its failures.

According to a report published by Haaretz newspaper on Thursday, Olmert testified before the Winograd Commission last month.

He was questioned on the circumstances surrounding Defense Minister Amir Peretz's appointment, how and why the decision was made to go to war only hours after the soldiers capture on July 12, and why Olmert decided to carry out a large-scale ground operation in Lebanon, 48 hours before the cease-fire, in which thirty three soldiers were killed.

In his testimony, Olmert claimed he had held more meetings on the situation in Lebanon than any of his recent predecessors. The first meeting was held on January 8, 2006, four days after Olmert was called to take the place of Ariel Sharon, who had fallen into a coma.

Further meetings were held in March, April, May and July, including a meeting which was called after Corporal Gilad Shalit was captured by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.

The commission was provided with a schedule of the meetings by Olmert's military secretary, Major General Gadi Shamni, the Haaretz report said.

Omert testified that the matters discussed included past incidents where soldiers were captured with shelling taking place at the same time. Chief of staff Dan Halutz, according to Olmert, indicated that any repeat of such an incident should be responded to, a position that Olmert said he accepted.

In a meeting in March, according to Haaretz, Olmert asked the army commanders whether operational plans existed for such a possibility, and they said yes. He asked to see the plans, and they asked why. He responded that he did not want to make a snap decision in the case of an abduction, and preferred to decide at that moment. Presented with the options, he selected a moderate plan that included air attacks accompanied by a limited ground operation. At the time, Shaul Mofaz was defense minister.

Olmert stated that he had decided in earlier meetings that Israel's goal in an operation would be the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the deployment of the Lebanese army along the Israeli border and the disarmament of Hezbollah.

In May 2006, says the Haaretz report, Olmert was informed by then-National Security Council head Giora Eiland and former prime minister Ehud Barak that the Lebanese government would agree to implement Resolution 1559 in return for an Israeli withdrawal from Shabaa Farms. Olmert thought that it was best to implement the decision through diplomacy, and raised the issue with U.S. President George W. Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and French President Jacques Chirac.

During deliberations last June, following Shalit's abduction, Olmert told the committee he was certain there would be a similar attempt to kidnap soldiers on the Lebanese border. He says he ordered the Israeli military to prevent this.

Regarding the decision to broaden the ground operation toward the end of the war, Olmert said he had wanted to influence UN Security Council deliberations so that the draft resolution 1701, calling for a cease-fire, would be amended in Israel's favor.

Olmert said that the morning he made the move, he had received a draft reflecting the French-Lebanese stance, which did not suit Israel. The expanded operation was aimed at pressuring the Security Council members, he said.

The Winograd Commission also asked Olmert whether appointing Peretz as defense minister was the right thing to do. He responded that the defense portfolio had been given to Labor under coalition talks, and the party chose its ministers.

Olmert's chief of staff, Yoram Turbowicz, gave the Winograd Commission the diplomatic exchanges that occurred during the war.

He said that as early as the first day of the war, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke with Olmert and asked that Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora not be undermined. Israel understood this to mean that Lebanese infrastructure should not be destroyed, even though the Israeli military had originally planned otherwise.

The Prime Minister' office refused to comment on the Haaretz report.