A military conflict in Lebanon and northern Israel started on July 12, after a Hezbollah cross-border raid into Israel.

The general said that he was intending to sell the shares for two weeks, and that his secretary placed a call to his bank on the morning of July 12, before the Hezbollah raid.

Mofaz told him that negotiation over the bodies might force the IDF to halt the operation and get it in trouble similar to the 2000 Hezbollah cross-border raid.

He said he had left a message for his broker before the Hezbollah raid.

For the moment, few people were talking about the economic damage wrought by the war, touched off by a Hezbollah raid in July.

Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's prime minister, sought to distance the government from the Hezbollah raid after an emergency cabinet meeting.

The standoff stunned Israel, whose offensive came in response to a Hezbollah cross-border raid that resulted in the death of eight Israeli soldiers and the capture of two others.

When asked if he thought Israel's response to the initial Hezbollah raid was disproportionate, as many critics have charged, he minced no words.

They saw it as a firm and justified response to provocative cross-border Hezbollah raids and rocket attacks.

Baalbeck is a stronghold of the militant Shiite group Hezbollah; the Israeli military campaign in Lebanon began after a Hezbollah raid into Israel on July 12.