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| 'We're not taking any chances.' Israel is being drawn into slow-motion carnage in Gaza | |
| 2023-10-31 | |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Artemy Sharapov
Marine special forces units are also involved in the fighting and land on the coast - they destroy boats and other watercraft used by Palestinian forces. Judging by statements from Netanyahu’s office and the IDF leadership, so far operations in Gaza are local in nature. The main stage of the operation, which involves the introduction of large formations into the cities and towns of the sector, will begin unexpectedly and will continue for a long time, the Israeli Prime Minister said. At the same time, not only Arab, but also European and American media report that the Israeli military has already deployed heavy armored vehicles, including tanks, “on the ground.” In particular, The Wall Street Journal and France Presse write about the advance of tanks and infantry in the vicinity of Gaza City, and according to Le Figaro , IDF armored vehicles blocked the strategically important Salah al-Din highway connecting the northern and southern parts of Gaza. Syrian and Saudi media report: Hamas and Saraya al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigades, the military wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad) have already engaged in several firefights with the Israeli military on the ground. The IDF leadership confirms that after a massive attack from air and sea, “manpower and equipment” actually entered the sector. Over the past 24 hours, additional forces of infantry, armored vehicles, artillery, as well as engineering units have been introduced into the enclave, IDF spokesman Daniel Hagari informed. But at the same time, as presented by the Israeli side, we are talking only about a certain preliminary stage before the start of large-scale ground work by the IDF. “This war will take a long time, and it will be difficult,” Netanyahu urged his fellow citizens and called on them to prepare for difficult days. CLEARING THE AREA Judging by the footage that has appeared on the Internet, Israeli troops who have entered the territory of Gaza are creating a springboard for the entry of large formations of infantry and armored vehicles, military expert Maxim Tumbartsev explained to Regnum news agency. “If the first three raids into Gaza were carried out in the dark using the “hit and retreat” tactics, then in the footage published on October 29 you can see special forces units, as well as the work of engineering units. The latter are working to clear passages for armored vehicles,” the expert noted. Israeli sappers are clearing mines simultaneously in several areas: in the north near the city of Beit Hanoun and in the central region of the sector - near the Israeli checkpoint Kisufim. Thus, the IDF plans to cut the sector into several parts, thus complicating the movement of individual Hamas groups and cutting them off from the border with Egypt. To cover special forces soldiers operating in the sector, the Israeli army is actively using M109 self-propelled artillery units operating in conjunction with drones. “There are a lot of shots of drones that are constantly reconnaissance of Gaza. There is information about the use of Apache attack helicopters. However, their use is limited, most likely due to Hamas’ use of man-portable anti-aircraft missile systems,” notes Tumbartsev. At the same time, military aircraft are actively used to cover ground forces, former deputy commander of the Gaza division of the Israeli army, Amir Avivi , told the Financial Times. “We don't take risks. When we conduct maneuvers in Gaza, we do it with powerful artillery and fifty planes overhead that destroy everything that moves ,” Avivi said. HALF A MILLION UNDER ARMS Israeli troops deployed in the Gaza Strip are constantly maneuvering to avoid being exposed to missile or drone attacks. At the same time, the troops do not yet risk entering the ruins of urban buildings, experts note. The destruction of residential buildings to the foundation does not in itself guarantee the “neutralization” of the area. Israeli media emphasize that in tunnels dug under the Gaza Strip, Hamas militants have created large reserves of fuel, water, medicine and ammunition. Therefore, even a complete blockade of the region will not create significant problems for the militants. The Israeli army command is seeking to destroy most of the tunnels before the start of a full-scale ground operation, fearing large casualties. Be that as it may, the start of a major operation (with a guaranteed large number of victims) should already be considered a fait accompli. By the end of October, the strength of the IDF reached half a million - 200 thousand regular military personnel and 300 thousand reservists called up for mobilization. A number of formations are located in the Golan Heights, in close proximity to the border with Lebanon and Syria. But most of the troops are concentrated in the Gaza Strip. Presumably, we are talking about several hundred Merkava 4 and Merkava 3 tanks and 1 thousand light armored vehicles. Most of the troops are currently stationed at a considerable distance from the borders of Gaza to exclude the possibility of shelling. According to some estimates, the IDF forces intended to attack Palestinian territories outnumber Palestinian groups by at least five times. GAZA IS LIKE THE NEW RAQQA After the hostages are released, the IDF will be able to use all its accumulated military power “on the ground.” But the offensive will develop slowly in any case, Bloomberg believes. The publication's sources predict that the offensive could take from six weeks to six months. A longer period - from six months to a year - is called by a former member of the Israeli National Security Council, ex-head of the analytical department of military intelligence AMAN Yaakov Amidror in a commentary to the Financial Times . It seems that these estimates are not far from the truth. For example, Kurdish militias, with the active support of the United States, fought continuous battles for four months (from June to October 2017) to capture the Syrian city of Raqqa, the “capital” of the Islamic State banned in Russia. The assault on the city of Mosul in Iraq, in which the United States and NATO countries also actively took part, lasted even longer, seven months: from October 2016 to July 2017. Therefore, the battles for such a powerful defensive area as Gaza simply cannot last any less, experts believe. Before the assault on urban areas, Israeli troops will try to encircle the Gaza agglomeration as tightly as possible, cutting it into several parts if possible. At the next stage, it is planned to use armored vehicles to make holes in the buildings for the entry of infantry under the cover of armored vehicles, which will move from house to house, blowing up tunnels and Hamas fortified areas. However, so far Israeli troops are not trying to force the offensive, fearing possible complications on the northern and southern borders of the country. YEMENI “SURPRISES” AND AMERICAN COVER-UP On October 27, Egyptian media reported the fall of two rockets in the resorts of Taba and Nuweiba on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba. Presumably, the missiles were fired from Yemen into Israeli territory and were subsequently shot down by Israeli air defenses. Earlier, the Yemeni group Ansarallah (better known as the Houthi movement) announced its readiness to strike Israel in the event of a military operation in Gaza. At the same time, fighting continues on the border between Lebanon and Syria. Aware of the threat emanating simultaneously from the north and south, Israel is not seeking to launch a military operation until large formations of the US Navy arrive in the region. Two strike groups led by the aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Gerald D. Ford are being deployed to the eastern Mediterranean. In the area where the group is concentrated, activity from reconnaissance aircraft of the US Air Force was recorded. According to FlightRadar, on the night of October 29-30, a US Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft with the call sign HOMER42 and a Poseidon P-8A anti-submarine aircraft operated near the Israeli coast. American aviation monitors the airspace, tracking the movement of drones, and covers transport aircraft flying from the United States and European countries to Israel. “The planes are designed to track the movements of the same drones that can be launched into Israel from Syria or Iraq, as well as missile launches,” Tumbartsev explained. But, most likely, they are intended to demonstrate the US’s readiness to strike at those forces that try to intervene in the conflict. Simply put, they give the Israeli army a free hand so that it can focus only on Gaza, the expert noted. The Americans are also pulling in their allies. Germany has deployed special forces and naval paratroopers to Cyprus, Bild reports . It is assumed that NATO units will act together with the Israeli military in the matter of releasing hostages from the Gaza Strip. | |
| Posted by:badanov |