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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
IsraelÂ’s Surprise Raid of Baalbek Is No Panacea for Tactical Ills
2006-08-02
DEBKAfileÂ’s Update of DEBKA-Net-WeeklyÂ’s Exclusive Military Analysis of July 28
Israel’s audacious commando raid of a Hizballah stronghold near Baalbek more than 100 km north of the border recalled the old panache associated with Israeli military feats in the past. However the 22 days of the Lebanon war have shown an army hampered and slowed down by tactical and intelligence deficiencies which showed up in the costly Maroun er-Ras and Bin Jubeil operations in South Lebanon – and again this week in the Ayta a-Chaab battle. Those three engagements have claimed 17 lives. Between six and eight thousand troops and reservists are now deployed in South Lebanon fighting in Hizballah village-strongholds and positions along the Israeli border and plunging deeper for the mission assigned this week to push Hizballah out of the south as far as the Litani River. More such battles therefore lie ahead.

It is therefore important to heed the senior Israeli officers who tell DEBKAfile that a single successful commando raid is not going to cure the deficiencies hampering its 22-day Lebanon campaign.
Looks like DEBKA is the place where "senior" (most likely retired) Israeli officers come to bitch about how things are being run. Kind of like CNN and the NYT are full of old generals complaining about Rumsfeld.
The officers direct most of their criticism at the Northern CommandÂ’s handling of the war, arguing that the IDF should have kicked off the entire campaign with a series of audacious assaults like TuesdayÂ’s Baalbek operation so as to catch Hizballah off-balance. Without these tactics, the three battles against a tough enemy which refuses to break under sustained battering were bound to end as they did.

On July 28, DEBKA-Net-Weekly 263 cited its military analysts on the IDFÂ’s six principal failings in the Lebanon war:

1. Israeli elected leaders, Olmert and defense minister Peretz, lack military experience and the skills required for managing a war.

2. The military leadership qualities of chief of staff Lt.-General Halutz, former commander of the air force where he grew up, are questionable.

3. OlmertÂ’s predecessor left him with a flawed legacy. During his six and-a- half years as premier, Ariel Sharon shook up the top levels of the IDFÂ’s general command, military intelligence and the Mossad (although not the Shin Bet) and stuffed them with appointees who subscribed to his political philosophy. IsraelÂ’s top military and security echelons have never before been picked for their political outlook. SharonÂ’s axe created a monolithic establishment lacking in the motivation burning in their predecessors for developing brilliantly innovative methods of warfare.

4. In six years of counter-terror warfare against the Palestinians, the IDF focused on perfecting small-time tactics for keeping local terror fires under control, but failed to produce methods applicable to a transition from fighting terrorists to waging war. Hizballah has foisted this transition on the Israeli military.

5. Israeli war planners, like the US army in Iraq, came to rely too heavily on air power, firepower and hi-tech weaponry for combating terror. They neglected to draw the lessons of the three-year Iraq war.

6. HizballahÂ’s tacticians and their Iranian Revolutionary Guards mentors studied every Israeli move in its 2002 Defensive Wall Operation against the Palestinian terrorist stronghold of Jenin, which ended in all the towns of the West Bank falling to the Israeli military. Taking this battle as their master plan, they invented a new war doctrine to fit a Hizballah offensive against an Israeli army which had not revised its doctrines of war in the intervening four years.

The battle fought in JeninÂ’s refugee camp on April 14, 2002, was the only engagement in the entire Israel-Palestinian conflict in which Hizballah and al Qaeda terrorists fought Israeli forces face to face.

The Palestinians fielded a small number of fighters. The Israeli army won the day but paid dearly in casualties. Drawing on the Jenin lesson, Iranian and Hizballah war planners are hammering at the Jewish state’s most vulnerable point - military losses and loss of life in general. By maximizing Israeli casualties, they believe that Hizballah does not have to win the war; it will turn the tables sufficiently to achieve parity with the Israeli army. For a small militia dependent on two outside governments, Iran and Syria, for heavy weapons and permission to use them, this would be no mean feat – better in fact that any Arab army has ever achieved in the past.

Nasrallah is fond of boasting that he has surprised Israel and will again. But it must be said that, going back to the Yom Kippur shock, the Israeli army did in fact recover from its early setbacks and turned the tide. It is still early days, and Israel may have surprises of its own up its sleeve. The pressure of war on the countryÂ’s borders and their homes under attack has always goaded IsraelÂ’s army into flights of improvisation and stimulated its generals into using the war arena as a testing ground for ingenious new ideas. But much depends on Olmert, Peretz and General Halutz, giving them enough rein to succeed while restraining their own pointless and often damaging statements.
Posted by:Steve

#16  But I do like your explanation -- quite helpful. :-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-08-02 23:18  

#15  I thought of those more as an ongoing police action, Captain America. This is a real war... finally!
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-08-02 23:17  

#14  With due respect, PLO and Hezbo were not national armies pre-2000 and beyond.

Southern Lebanon is forboding terrain, both for airpower and armor, requiring heavy infantry.

One exceptable reason for going light for the first two weeks was that the Israelis were trying to learn about the tactics being employed by Hezbo. However, to take such tough terrain and move the Hezbos back requires considerable investment in troops.
Posted by: Captain America   2006-08-02 21:14  

#13  This is the first war Israel is fighting against entrenched terrorists instead of national armies in the field. Beyond that, I'll leave commentary to the experts.
Posted by: trailing wife   2006-08-02 17:52  

#12  Debka ends up siding close to where Ralph Peters and the Israeli citizenry are.

Given the sorry state of which Lebanon exists today, it's time for Israel for overtake the country (vis-a-vis land for peace).

Otherwise, this battle will never end.
Posted by: Captain America   2006-08-02 14:48  

#11  uh? someone erased comments and news?
Posted by: Clerert Uneamp2772   2006-08-02 13:50  

#10  Debka is right, actually they are being sympathetic towards a incomptent Governement.

One of headlines of today: 06:03 PDT IDF destroys rocket launcher in Bint Jbail (Jerusalem Post)

Posted by: Clerert Uneamp2772   2006-08-02 12:29  

#9  Hmmm 17 IDF soldiers down and over 500 Hezbeens and appeasers toes up. The odds look great so far, onward you juuuuz.
Posted by: Turbins R4 Pussies   2006-08-02 12:24  

#8  Oh no ! 17 soldiers dead....we've lost ! Oh, the horrors.
So what ? 17 honorable deaths is a good thing. The deaths of many more civilians by incoming rockets is a bad thing.
Fight hard and kill the enemy, damnit, now shut up.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-08-02 12:20  

#7  more like how the right poked at Clinton for Somalia.

Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-08-02 12:04  

#6  Phfft. Just like the right poked fun at Clinton for booming an aspirin factory?
Posted by: Iblis   2006-08-02 12:01  

#5  first Debka tends to lean right.

In case youve overlooked it, Likud is in opposition, and doesnt like the Olmert-Peretz govt (though of course they are supportingthe IDF in the war). Its not at all unlikely they will poke at how the war is being executed, militarily.

Posted by: liberalhawk   2006-08-02 10:36  

#4  army hampered and slowed down by tactical and intelligence deficiencies

Most advancing armies are "hampered and slowed down by tactical and intelligence deficiences." It is the nature of modern warfare. I have yet to hear a commander say, "thats it, no more intelligence updates, Class I or Class V, I've got all I need. Unless the enemy advances on-line shoulder to shoulder in mass formations this will always be case.
Posted by: Besoeker   2006-08-02 10:18  

#3  Drawing on the Jenin lesson, Iranian and Hizballah war planners are hammering at the Jewish stateÂ’s most vulnerable point - military losses and loss of life in general. By maximizing Israeli casualties, they believe that Hizballah does not have to win the war;

You heard it from me first (not that you didn't know it already) but this belief is, unfortunately, the Iranian and Hizballah Achilles heel of their war.

Sure, we do care about human life. We will give you ample opportunity to surrender so that your hostages will be safe. We'll even let you keep your own people hostage. But when this war comes down to being between our civilians or your civilians you don't have what it takes to win.

It's time all the civilized world leaders made this point very, very, clear so that we can end this thing (more) peacefully.
Posted by: 2b   2006-08-02 10:14  

#2  Debka, Debka, would you like a saucer of milk? MEEEEOOOOW!

Steve's green comments nailed it. After this pitiful display of envy and spite - the answer to the mysterious question re: WHO IS DEBKA? is finally crystal clear. Not a pretty display.

At least they did manage to rise beyond their petty jealousies over not being in charge and pull it together in the last paragraph, which really should have been the lead. Boys, boys, get pull yourselves together. Maybe they will need you enough to call you back and you can be in the game once again.
Posted by: 2b   2006-08-02 10:03  

#1  better in fact that any Arab army has ever achieved in the past

Wow, that good? Old Groucho Marx line: "I started out without a nickel in my pocket and now, after twenty years of hard work, I've got a nickel in my pocket."
Posted by: Matt   2006-08-02 10:02  

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