Bint Jbeil, Lebanon - Eight months after Israeli attacks left devastation across many villages in southern Lebanon, locals still feel Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert carried out a war of "collective punishment" against Lebanese civilians and not the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. "I can only describe Olmert's war on Lebanon as a collective punishment against civilians and not Hezbollah," the mayor of Bint
Jbeil Ali Baydoun said angrily as he points his hand around the damage inflicted in the village.
"I hope he will pay a harsh price in his political career, for what he did to our homes and sons," said Baydoun.
The mounting anger against Israel was obvious in this mostly destroyed Shiite town, just across the border with the Jewish state.
Last July Israel launched an aerial war on southern Lebanon a couple of hours after Hezbollah guerrillas attacked an Israeli patrol, killed three men and captured two soldiers last July.
The war that was expected to have lasted only days, dragged on for more than a month.
Israel finally accepted a United Nations-brokered ceasefire and withdrew from Lebanon without having achieved either of its two main objectives - the recovery of the kidnapped soldiers and "crushing" Hezbollah guerrillas.
By then, nearly 1,200 lives had been lost in all, mostly on the Lebanese side.
Within hours of the ceasefire, about 850,000 people who had fled southern Lebanon began to return, despite the massive damage in the area.
"Israeli warplanes would bomb us day and night. The focus was the civilian infrastructure: homes, hospitals, fields and shops and not Hezbollah bases," Hana Douei, who lost her sister in the Israeli shelling, said.
"Today and as I stand in an area five kilometres from the Israeli border, I am waiting anxiously for the press conference which will criticize Olmert and his defence minister and reveal their failure in the war against us, civilians and not Hezbollah," said Baydoun.
"At least their people will be able to hear about their failures," he added.
Retired Israeli judge Eliahu Winograd was due to present his findings about the Lebanon July war which was perceived to have been a failure in Israel at a news conference at 17.00 pm (1400 GMT) on Monday.
"The pressure is rising all around Ehud Olmert and his chair could soon be vacated," said Hezbollah MP Hussein Haj Hassan.
Hezbollah announced a "Divine Victory" after the group managed to last 33 days in confronting Israel during its sea, air and land attacks against Lebanon.
"Our brave strugglers managed to stand and confront one of the largest and well-equipped armies in the world. For us this is a divine victory," he said.
"They (Israeli) thought by carrying out this war against the civilians in southern Lebanon, who are loyal to Hezbollah, they would turn us against the strugglers," Hassan Ridaa, a follower of Hezbollah said.
"As a result Olmert did us a favour, he made us more loyal to Hezbollah, who helped us rebuild our homes and stand on our feet again," Rida said.
Most of the already fixed damage in Bint Jbeil was rebuilt with money from Qatar and money provided by Hezbollah, the first on the scene with funding and relief supplies for residents.
"To Olmert I say today, you failed in your Lebanon war and you deserve to be punished and criticized by your people," Ridaa added.
