Chief of General Staff of Israel Defense Forces Dan Halutz said Tuesday that the war against Hezbollah last summer gained many successes though Israel failed to achieve all its objectives.

IDF forces caused considerable damage to Hezbollah and killed "hundreds of terrorists", Halutz was quoted by Yedioth Aharonot as saying during a military conference on the Lebanon war, which ended on August 14 last year.

"We failed to stem short range rocket fire until the ceasefire, despite hitting infrastructure and depots. We attacked the Katyushas, but unsuccessfully," he added.

Halutz said it would be a mistake to declare a military goal of freeing the two IDF soldiers captured in a cross-border Hezbollah raid, which set off the fighting -- though that was one of the goals stated at the outset of the conflict.

He also noted that one of the main mistakes the army made was "acting as if it were a routine security operation rather than a war."

Responding to the pressure to resign, Halutz said he will quit if the Winograd committee, which is probing the war's shortcomings, recommends he does so.

"I didn't hear my superiors calling on me to leave. When they tell me so, I will answer them," he said.

"I chose to take responsibility," Halutz added. "There are those who interpret responsibility as running away. I chose to deal with the inquiry and with what needs fixing. That is what responsibility is about."

Source: Xinhua