JERUSALEM - Israeli chief of staff Dan Halutz has been criticised in the second half of an internal military report over failures during the summer war in Lebanon, army radio has revealed.

The probe, published on Friday, also pointed to deficiences by military intelligence supremo Amos Yadlin over the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Shiite Hezbollah militants in northern Israel on July 12, which sparked the 34-day war.

The investigation, headed by reserve Major General Doron Almog, contains no specific recommendations, however.

An Israeli commander in charge of the Lebanese border region, Brigadier General Gal Hirsch, resigned last month before the inquiry's initial findings were presented to the army leadership.

Hirsch became the second military head to roll over the Lebanon war, but Halutz has stubbornly refused public calls to step down.

Almog's inquiry found that reserve battalions sent to the Israeli-Lebanese front failed to follow procedures, disregarded intelligence and were not adequately prepared for their mission.

They included the unit from which Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were seized during Hezbollah's July 12 ambush, which also killed three soldiers. Five more Israeli soldiers were killed in a follow-up operation the same day. -AFP