IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on Sunday censured two IDF officers following a review of the Sept. 1 Hezbollah missile strike on IDF vehicles and an IDF outpost near Avivim, on the northern border, by Hezbollah.
Two other officers are facing disciplinary action after the investigation into the incident found "severe operational error" occurred during the attack, namely that a military ambulance was allowed to access a road that was under threat by the Shiite terrorist group's operatives.
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According to a statement by the IDF, while the chief of staff found fault in the officers' decision-making process, he also determined that the troops deployed in the sector largely operated properly ahead of the attack.
The cross-border attack was most likely retaliation for earlier IDF airstrikes on Hezbollah targets in Beirut and Syria.
"The chief of staff concluded that while the troops' preparations had, for the most part, accomplished their goals, the entrance of a military vehicle to an area restricted over credible threats of anti-tank missile fire constituted a severe operational error," the IDF said.
The commander of the artillery battalion stationed in the Avivim base and his deputy were both officially censured by Kohavi, the army said.
The battalion commander, ordered to evacuate the base and leave it guarded, was found in breach of protocol and the deputy commander was censured for allowing the medical vehicle to access the restricted road.
"The findings of the investigation identified lacunae in the command and control processes of the battalion during the preparations, and that approval was given to the military vehicle to travel along the roadway by the deputy battalion commander despite his commanders' orders on the matter," the IDF's statement said.
"In addition, the investigation found that the regional brigade did not carry out the appropriate monitoring [of the situation] and that there were lacunae in the oversight over transportation along the roadways," it concluded.
Part of this article was originally published by i24NEWS.
