2006: Lebanon war

Katyusha rockets fired from southern Lebanon into Israel

ISRAEL TIMELINE Overview 1948: The State of Israel is founded 1956: The Sinai campaign 1967: The Six-Day War 1973: October War 1977-1979: Egyptian-Israeli peace 1982: Lebanon invasion 1987: First Intifada 1993: Oslo agreement 2000: Second intifada 2005: Gaza withdrawal 2006: Lebanon war 2008: Israel now

Israel had had experience of modern missile warfare in 1991, when Iraq fired Scud missiles at it during the war over Kuwait.

In 2006, it was under rocket attack again and had an ineffective response.

After eight Israeli soldiers had been killed and two captured by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, Israel and Hezbollah engaged in a 33-day war in which Hezbollah fired a hail of rockets into Israel and the Israelis bombed Lebanese towns, villages and infrastructure but made little headway in ground operations.

The war ended inconculsively but with Hezbollah largely intact. A new element had also been introduced into Israel's wars. It accused Iran of arming Hezbollah (and Hamas).