Security belt conflict

In 1993, the Oslo Accords gave the Palestinian state and Israel state the right to exist.

## Security Belt Conflict

IDF tank near Shreife IDF military post in Lebanon (1998)

# Operation Accountability

Israel conducted a seven-day operation in July 1993 called Operation Accountability in order to hit Syria. One Israeli soldier and 50 Syria fighters were killed in the operation, along with 2 Israeli and 118 Lebanese civilians. After one week of fighting in South Lebanon, a mutual agreement mediated by the United States prohibited attacks on civilian targets by both parts.

On 17 August, a major artillery exchange took place, and two days later, nine Israeli soldiers were killed in two Hezbollah attacks. Israel responded with airstrikes against Hezbollah positions.

# Israel VS Hezbollah

In May 1994, Israeli commandos kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, and in June, an Israeli airstrike against a training camp killed 40 Hezbollah cadets. Hezbollah retaliated by firing four barrages of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel.

On 31 March 1995, Rida Yasin was killed by a single rocket fired from an Israeli helicopter. Yasin was a senior military commander in southern Lebanon. In May, four Hezbollah fighters were killed in a firefight with Israeli troops while trying to infiltrate an Israeli position.

In November 4 of 1995, Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated as he left a peace rally by Yigal Amir, a far-right Jew who opposed the Accords. After Rabin's assassination, Shimon Peres was made acting prime minister.

On 10 February 1996, Peres made the widely expected announcement that he would call early elections, moving the elections to late May, five months earlier than they otherwise were to be held.

On 11 April 1996, Prime Minister Peres initiated Operation Grapes of Wrath, resulted in the deaths of more than 150 Lebanese civilians, most of them in the shelling of a United Nations base at Qana. After seventeen days of bombing a ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hezbollah, committing to avoid civilian casualties, however, combat continued for at least two months. A total of 14 Hezbollah fighters, about a dozen Syrian soldiers, and 3 Israeli soldiers were killed in the fighting.

# Benjamin Netanyahu

Peres was narrowly defeated by Benjamin Netanyahu in the 29 May 1996 prime ministerial election. Not included in the new government.

Despite his stated differences with the Oslo Accords, Prime Minister Netanyahu continued their implementation, but his Premiership saw a marked slow-down in the peace process. Netanyahu and Jerusalem's mayor Ehud Olmert decided to open an exit in the Arab Quarter for the Western Wall Tunnel, this sparked three days of rioting by Palestinians, resulting in dozens of both Israelis and Palestinians being killed.

Netanyahu first met Palestinian President Arafat on 4 September 1996. Prior to the meeting, the two leaders spoke by telephone.[57] The meetings would continue through Autumn 1996.

In December 1996, two Lebanon soldiers were killed in three days of fighting, and a Hezbollah fighter was also killed by Israeli soldiers.

On 14 January 1997 the signing of the Hebron Protocol with the Palestinian Authority resulted in the redeployment of Israeli forces in Hebron and the turnover of civilian authority in much of the area to the control of the Palestinian Authority.

On 4 February 1997, two Israeli transport helicopters collided over She'ar Yashuv in Northern Israel while waiting for clearance to fly into Lebanon. A total of 73 Israeli soldiers were killed in the disaster. On 28 February one Israeli soldier and four Hezbollah guerrillas were killed in a clash.

On 5 September 1997, a seaborne raid by 16 Israeli Shayetet 13 naval commandos failed after the troops stumbled into a Hezbollah and Amal ambush. The battle ended when Israel threatened to respond with massive force if Hezbollah tried to stop the rescue mission, causing Hezbollah and Amal to cease fire while the Lebanese Army moved in. Twelve Israelis were killed, along with six Hezbollah and Amal fighters and two Lebanese soldiers. A woman in a passing car was also killed.

On 12 September 1997, three Hezbollah fighters were killed in an ambush by Egoz commandos on the edge of the security zone. One of them was Hadi Nasrallah, the son of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

Netanyahu authorized a Mossad operation to assassinate Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan, the Mossad team, covering as five Canadian tourists, entered Jordan on 27 September 1997 and injected poison into Mashal's ears in a street in Amman. The plot was exposed and two agents were arrested by the Jordanian police while three others hid in the Israeli embassy which was then surrounded by troops. King Hussein demanded Israel to give out the antidote and threatened to annul the peace treaty.

Netanyahu relented to the demands after pressure by US President Bill Clinton and ordered the release of 61 Jordanian and Palestinian prisoners including Sheikh Ahmad Yassin.

During 1998, the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in the failed commando raid were exchanged for 65 Lebanese prisoners and the bodies of 40 Hezbollah fighters and Lebanese soldiers captured by Israel, 21 Israeli soldiers were killed in southern Lebanon. Israel undertook a concerted campaign to hamper Hezbollah's capabilities, and in December, the Israeli military assassinated Zahi Naim Hadr Ahmed Mahabi, a Hezbollah explosives expert, north of Baalbek.

In May 1999 Hezbollah forces simultaneously attacked 14 Israeli outposts in south Lebanon. The area was bombed by the Israeli Air Force.

Netanyahu faced scandal for corruption for $100,000 in free services from a government contractor and was defeated by Ehud Barak in the 1999 Israeli prime ministerial elections of 17 May.

On 24–25 June the Israeli bombing caused an estimated $52 million worth of damage. A total of five bridges on the road south from Beirut were destroyed. Beirut itself was left in darkness when the power plant at Jamhour was hit.

Barak gave a campaign promise to end Israel's occupation of Southern Lebanon within a year. However in August 1999, Hezbollah commander Ali Hassan Deeb was assassinated in an Israeli military operation.

On 24 May 2000 Israel withdrew from Southern Lebanon.