JERUSALEM - Israel’s public watchdog is to unveil Tuesday the first report on the state’s conduct during the Lebanon war in a move that could deal a punishing blow to embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss is to present his interim conclusions on Israel’s readiness for war at 11:00 am (0900 GMT), two hours after the Supreme Court is to rule on a last-minute army injunction to delay the report.

Officials expect Lindenstrauss, already embroiled in an unprecedented row with the beleaguered Olmert over the report, to deliver a scathing verdict on army and government conduct in the years leading up to the July-August war.

The watchdog report is one of several probes into the government’s and army’s conduct during the 34-day conflict in Lebanon, during which Israel’s north was paralysed by over 4,000 rockets fired by Shiite militia Hezbollah.

Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz have flouted public calls to resign over the conflict for its failure to halt Hezbollah fire or retrieve two soldiers captured in a cross-border raid that sparked the war on July 12.

In a bid to appease mass public dissatisfaction, Olmert last year tasked Lindenstrauss to review the state’s handling of Israel’s homefront, namely civilian protection and rescue services’ performance during times of emergency.

But Lindenstrauss’s initial findings, which will be unveiled before a parliamentary committee, may even scrutinise the personal conduct of several key players, including Olmert and the head of the army’s homefront division.

Mud-slinging between the prime minister and state comptroller ahead of the report’s release has also underscored the importance of the findings, with the increasingly unpopular Olmert hoping to minimise the fallout of a bad review.

Olmert has accused Lindenstrauss of waging a politically motivated attack. Lindenstrauss, who is probing Olmert’s allegedly unlawful real estate deals, has accused him of trying to divert attention away from his responsibility.

In a further effort to delay the report, homefront commander Yitzhak Gershon has filed an 11th hour appeal to the Supreme Court against its release, with judges expected to convene at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) to pass their verdict.

Major war-time failures of Israel’s homefront have already been exposed in a recent report by parliament’s powerful defence and foreign affairs committee.

The Lindenstrauss report also comes weeks ahead of the publication of the long-awaited findings into the state’s decision-making and handling of the war, whose inconclusive outcome has seen Olmert lambasted by the public.

More than 160 Israelis and 1,200 Lebanese were killed in the war that also saw Israel slammed abroad for its devastating use of its firepower in Lebanon, where thousands of homes and infrastructure targets were destroyed.