A government-commissioned report on Israel's 2006 war in Lebanon has found 'grave failings' in decision-making.
The report criticises both Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government and the Israeli Defence Force.
But the inquiry chairman Eliahu Winograd, a former judge, told a televised news conference this afternoon that Mr Olmert had acted 'in the sincere interest' of Israel during the war against Lebanon's Hezbollah militia.
A senior aide to Mr Olmert signalled this evening that he would not step down following the release of the final report.
Mr Winograd said the war had been a 'big and serious failure', adding that there was a great deal of failure at senior political and military levels.
'Entering into the war without an exit strategy was a grave failure,' he said.
'The ground operation did not achieve its objectives,' he said, referring to a massive offensive launched in the dying days of the war, while the UN was trying to establish a ceasefire agreement.
