Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Is Israel And Hezbollah Getting Ready To Start A New War?

UN peacekeepers monitor the Syrian side of the Israeli-Syrian border from an army post at Mount Bental in the Golan Heights last July (photo credit: Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

Alastair Crooke, Huffington Post: Is Israel Preparing for War Against Hezbollah?

BEIRUT — How does Israel read the Middle East these days? Few details on its national security strategy are explicitly and publicly expressed. But at the annual Herzliya Security Conference in mid-June, it was possible to read between the lines of officials’ speeches and form a fairly accurate picture of the way those officials interpret the Middle East.

The gist of the Israeli Defense Forces’ analysis came from Major General Herzl Halevi, the chief of the IDF’s military intelligence directorate. As with most political speeches, the substance lies with just a few enigmatic words.

“I’m going to say this with all due caution, but there has never been an army that knows as much about its enemy as we know about Hezbollah,” the intelligence chief said. “But still, the next war will not be simple, it will not be easy.”

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Both sides have been itching to go at each other since the last war .... the only thing that has stopped such a conflict from happening has been the Syrian war. But as the Syrian conflict grinds on .... the temptation to resume hostilities .... especially for the hawks in Israel who want to degrade Hezbollah's capabilities .... must be tempting.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would think that Hezbollah is stretched a little thin to be wanting to tangle with Israel right now.

B.Poster said...

Anon,

They may think their media machine is going to save them. At the moment hot war begins, if not sooner, Hezbollah's media surrogates which pretty much consists of the entire world media will praise Hezbollah far and wide, slam Israel, and report on how "successful" Hezbollah is. While good messaging is an important part of winning a military conflict or accomplishing any goal that requires more than oneself to achieve, it can only get one so far. Will it be enough this time?

I don't think so. In any event even if they win this round, their goal of destroying Israel will never succeed. It's long past time they realized this and began working towards a constructive peace with Israel.

fazman said...

Yeah 1000s of dead civillians in a one sided fight is always good tv viewing

Anonymous said...

I am confused by the Editor's claims that Israel, presumably the government, military and civilians, are itching for a fight with Hezbollah. I have not seen this itch in the press or in their actions. In fact, Israel is not ready for such a conflict as its internal lines of communication for war are not secure because of Hezbollah missiles. The troops tasked with internal activities, damage control and emergency response, are equally not ready for war. There are minimal bomb shelters. Israel has demobilized many of the troops and machinery that would conduct such a land war. Israel has aged airframes. Obama will not provide any backing for Israel in such a conflict. Israel has relatively low citizen participation in the military compared with the past. It has its focus on business and industrial expansion, not a military adventure.

Historians teach us to look at capabilities to understand intentions. Israel tries to ready itself for war but no longer has the large formations to make it work against Hezbollah that is now a trained and bloodied regular army that can go toe to toe in the field. Israel has reduced reserve numbers and training to a minimum. They are moving money for people, training and equipment into the F-35. As Israel reduces it main formations, reserve capabilities, flies aging aircraft, and shifts money into the F-35 boondoggle it is itching to fight a new war up north that will reign missile hell on its unprepared population? An interesting idea.

So, could you please present the evidence that Israel is not only ready for such a war but is itching to fight?

Thank you.

TWN said...

In 2006 Hezbollah surprised everyone with they way they chewed up the Israeli armored forces, I know the Israeli's have modified their tactics I will be interested to see how, and I am also interested to see what Hezbollah will do with all those rockets they got from Iran.

Anonymous said...

It is a shame that the Editor refuses to use his knowledge of military affairs to support his editorial views on Israeli affairs. This is especially true when his readers provide overwhelming evidence to disprove the Editor's comments. The Editor appears to engage with people who support his views and ducks any interaction with readers who do not share his views.

The Editor is particularly weak when in comes to Israeli affairs. He uses throw away lines and then ducks when called on opinions that lack credibility or are contrary to the facts. The Editor is entitled to his own opinions but not his own facts.

The editor prides himself on his knowledge of world affairs so that he can inform his clients of his findings. Anybody who refuses to acknowledge that their opinions are weak or not based on hard facts has the potential to provide bad opinions.

The Editor should consider this constructive criticism that could save him and his clients embarrassment in the future.

War News Updates Editor said...

Anon. I am just a news aggregator who provides a forum for others who may have an opinion or two .... including myself .... and including you.

If you have an opinion .... be free to post it. In all of my years of running this blog I have only deleted 2 comments because of language and hate .... and that is from 75,000 posts.

I also enjoy it when I am criticised and/or challenged. Also be free to do so if you differ and or object to what I say.

James said...

I feel the love.

War News Updates Editor said...

:)