In July 2006, Israel, urged on by the US, attacked Lebanon in an attempt to destroy Hezbollah and uproot their popularity amongst the Lebanese by the systematic targetting of civilians and civilin infrastructure. Israeli warplanes pounded Lebanon from the air, dropping 5,000 bombs a day for 33 days, culminating in the raining down of 4 million cluster bomblets over Southern Lebanon in the last three days of the war.
130,000 homes were destroyed and over 1 million refugees created, but Israeli ground troops took heavy casualties and were unable to reach the Litani River.
