New Tactics Yield Solid Victory in Gaza

Photo from The Financial Post

From Aviation Week:

Since the inconclusive Second Lebanon War of 2006, the Israeli army has been developing tactics and adding equipment and capabilities to fight more effectively in asymmetric conflicts. The recent success of “Operation Cast Lead” in the densely populated Gaza Strip shows that an industrial military that coordinates operations among land, air and sea units, makes effective use of advanced technology, and shares intelligence and leads from the front can decisively defeat an asymmetric enemy.

In this 22-day battle (Dec. 27, 2008-Jan. 18) the asymmetric enemy was, of course, Hamas, a militant group of fundamentalists that controls the Gaza Strip and has been launching crude but deadly rockets into Israel for years. Israel’s stated goal was to stop the rocket offensive. Before it could do that, forces had to fight decisively on urban battlefields that were full of traps.

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My Comment: It is still too early to raise the flag of victory on what happened in Gaza. Hamas is still in the territory, and it's popularity is greater now than before the war. But this is an interesting article on the military tactics that Israel used during the 3 week Gaza war, and should be read.