On the 28th of June, 1993 Katyusha rockets launched by Hizballah caused injuries and damage in Kiryat Shmonah. On 8-9 July, attacks by Ahmad Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine - General Council Command (PFLP-GC) and Hizballah caused the deaths of 5 IDF soldiers in the security zone. These events led the Israeli government and IDF to seek a retaliatory operation.
After assessing that a major ground incursion would lead to significant Israeli casualties, an artillery and aerial bombardment plan was adopted with the aim of eradicating the threat posed by Hizballah and Palestinian guerillas. Its secondary goal was to disrupt civilian life and force the population to flee north with the intention of turning civilians against the Hizballah, forcing the Lebanese and Syrian governments into taking steps to curb Hizballah activities.
Between the 25th-31st of July Israel implemented "Operation Accountability", targeting Shi'ite towns and villages of south Lebanon in the heaviest attack since 1982. A cease-fire understanding was eventually brokered by the US, ending the week-long Israeli campaign in Lebanon. An oral agreement was reached whereby Israel agreed to refrain from attacking civilian targets in Lebanon while the Hizballah pledged to stop firing rockets into northern Israel. The agreement only temporarily reduced the intensity of violence. A mutual offensive continued in the subsequent months and years until the IDF was forced to launch another major offensive in April 1996.
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