(KUNA) -- Israel's Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Dan Halutz said Wednesday the decision to expand the armed incursion to the Lebanese Litani River was not endorsed because it was not expected the conflict would continue for longer than 48 hours.Halutz, who appeared before the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee at the Knesset, said the decision to expand the war to the Litani River had come before UN Security Council Resolution 1701 was issued. Halutz declined to answer some questions he was asked, specifically on the "reasons for moving Israeli forces at such a large scale even after a US-French breakthrough was reached" on the conflict. The chief of staff had said that the IDF could be forced to stay in south Lebanon for months until the deployment of the expanded United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
Halutz had reportedly sold his shares in the Tel Aviv Stock Market shortly after Hezbollah abducted two Israeli soldiers on July 12 triggering the more than month-long destructive conflict. Some Israeli MPs had called for prosecuting Halutz on charges of using his insider information for personal profit on the share market.