(Note, I’m still traveling in East Africa but found a functioning computer and internet connection)
Israel’s self-inflicted wound becomes uglier and more deadly with
each passing day and the situation will only worsen in the coming days
as it tries, but fails, to dislodge Hizbullah from southern
Lebanon. Both Newsweek and the New York Times
(A Disciplined Hizbullah Surprises Israel With Its Training, Tactics
and Weapons) have had first rate reports on the belated discovery by
Israel that Hizbullah has a professional Army. According to
Newsweek:
Hizbullah is proving to be something altogether new, an Arab guerrilla army with sophisticated weaponry and remarkable discipline. Its soldiers have the jihadist rhetoric of fighting to the death, but wear body armor and use satcoms to coordinate their attacks.
Their tactics may be from Che, but their arms are from Iran, and not
just AK-47s and RPGs. They’ve reportedly destroyed three of Israel’s
advanced Merkava tanks with wire-guided missiles and powerful mines,
crippled an Israeli warship with a surface-to-sea missile, sent up
drones on reconnaissance missions, implanted listening devices along
the border and set up their ambushes using night-vision goggles.<!–
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NEWSWEEK has learned from a source briefed in recent weeks by Israel’s top leaders and military brass that Hizbullah even managed to eavesdrop successfully on Israel’s military communications as its Lebanese incursion began.
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STEVEN ERLANGER and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. writing in the New York Times note that:
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As the Israeli Army struggles for a fourth week to defeat Hezbollah before a cease-fire, the shipments are just one indication of how — with the help of its main sponsors, Iran and Syria — the militia has sharply improved its arsenal and strategies in the six years since Israel abruptly ended its occupation of southern Lebanon.
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Hezbollah is a militia trained like an army and equipped like a state, and its fighters “are nothing like Hamas or the Palestinians,” said a soldier who just returned from Lebanon. “They are trained and highly qualified,” he said, equipped with flak jackets, night-vision goggles, good communications and sometimes Israeli uniforms and ammunition. “All of us were kind of surprised.””,1]
);
//–>
NEWSWEEK has learned from a source briefed in recent weeks by Israel’s top leaders and military brass that Hizbullah even managed to eavesdrop successfully on Israel’s military communications as its Lebanese incursion began.
STEVEN ERLANGER and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. writing in the New York Times note that:
As the Israeli Army struggles for a fourth week to defeat Hezbollah
before a cease-fire, the shipments are just one indication of how —
with the help of its main sponsors, Iran and Syria — the militia has
sharply improved its arsenal and strategies in the six years since Israel abruptly ended its occupation of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah is a militia trained like an army and equipped like a state, and its fighters “are nothing like Hamas
or the Palestinians,” said a soldier who just returned from Lebanon.
“They are trained and highly qualified,” he said, equipped with flak
jackets, night-vision goggles, good communications and sometimes
Israeli uniforms and ammunition. “All of us were kind of surprised.”<!–
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One fellow not surprised is Pat Lang. Pat and I have been saying for several weeks that Israel was entering a bar fight without taking stock of who was in the bar. In his latest trenchant analysis Pat reminds us that:
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There have been Arab guerrilla armies before. The "Arab Revolt" against the Turks in WW1 was in part a campaign fought by Beduin guerrilla forces and in part a conventional war fought by "regular" units of infantry, cavalry, etc. led by former Ottoman officers of Arab extraction and advised by the British and French.
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In the Iraq of the ’20s and the Syria and Palestine of the ’30s Arab guerrillas fought colonial and Zionist forces for years. In the end they all were defeated by the application of technology, western methods of warfare, and police methods imported by the colonial powers from such places as India and Ireland.
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The Lebanese Hizbullah "Arab Guerrilla Army" is something different. What Newsweek describes is a force in transition, a force becoming a real army. Vo Nguyen Giap wrote in "People’s War, People’s Army" that a national resistance movement’s armed force must "evolve" from political agitprop activities to guerrilla war and eventually to the status and capability of regular armed forces if it is to succeed in defeating its enemies and seizing " a place at the table" in its country’s future.
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Some will say that Hizbullah’s army is not a "national force." They will say that it is merely a cats-paw of the Iranians and the Syrians. They will say that the money and the equipment are Iranian. This is all true, but the polling today in Lebanon indicates that the Lebanese (both Christian and Muslim) believe Hizbullah’s army to be a national force. I would welcome comments in regard to that polling.”,1]
);
//–>
One fellow not surprised is Pat Lang.
Pat and I have been saying for several weeks that Israel was entering a
bar fight without taking stock of who was in the bar. In his
latest trenchant analysis Pat reminds us that:
There have been Arab guerrilla armies before. The “Arab
Revolt” against the Turks in WW1 was in part a campaign fought by
Beduin guerrilla forces and in part a conventional war fought by
“regular” units of infantry, cavalry, etc. led by former Ottoman
officers of Arab extraction and advised by the British and French.
In the Iraq of the ’20s and the Syria and Palestine of the ’30s Arab
guerrillas fought colonial and Zionist forces for years. In the
end they all were defeated by the application of technology, western
methods of warfare, and police methods imported by the colonial powers
from such places as India and Ireland.
The Lebanese Hizbullah “Arab Guerrilla Army” is something
different. What Newsweek describes is a force in transition, a
force becoming a real army. Vo Nguyen Giap wrote in “People’s
War, People’s Army” that a national resistance movement’s armed
force must “evolve” from political agitprop activities to guerrilla war
and eventually to the status and capability of regular armed forces if
it is to succeed in defeating its enemies and seizing ” a place at the
table” in its country’s future.
Some will say that Hizbullah’s army is not a “national force.”
They will say that it is merely a cats-paw of the Iranians and the
Syrians. They will say that the money and the equipment are
Iranian. This is all true, but the polling today in Lebanon
indicates that the Lebanese (both Christian and Muslim) believe
Hizbullah’s army to be a national force. I would welcome comments
in regard to that polling.<!–
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I think that the Lebanese/Israeli war is pounding the "arch" of Lebanese society with a hammer, driving the "keystone" into the arch and tightening the fabric of cohesive national resistance to Israel. That keystone is now painted with a yellow flag.
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Israel is in trouble and it is time for the Bush Administration to throw the neo-con crazies out of the White House and the Defense Department and embark on a diplomatic effort to keep Israel’s military intact. Otherwise, the Israeli Army is likely to break itself on the hills of southern Lebanon and the United States will not be able to do anything other than express regret. We have our own "turd in the punchbowl" to wrestle in Iraq. Meanwhile, Hizbullah stands a good chance of expanding its influence and power, not just in the region, but throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Let’s remember, it ain’t just Americans who love a winner.
A new thought…to me, anyway:
Could this whole thing be just a dress rehearsal/probe for the US? So that it knows what it is up against in terms of the Iranian Army? Not simply another disprited bunch of Saddamites, but real soldiers?
Hell…the US can’t win in IRAQ!!! Against clapped out Toyota trucks and jury-rigged bombs.
I hope that SOMEONE has sense enough to realize that only a nuclear war can “win” in Iran.
And that a nuclear war is unwinnable, in the long run.
I hope so…
AG
it’s more like a way to assure that the fighting doesn’t stop anytime soon. Nevermind that we aren’t winning. That just makes that much more important that we fight on.
Also, it appears Israel has been genuinely caught off guard.
You write:
“…it appears Israel has been genuinely caught off guard.”
Maybe.
Maybe the Israeli intelligence services have finally succumbed the the creeping rot of incompetence that has infested the rest of the corporate-ruled world.
But I do not believe it.
Israel is not rich enough nor is it safe enough to allow itself to become self-satisfied. That only happens to giants. A surrounded warrior can NEVER let down his guard.
AG
It’s called Victory Disease.
You win so many battles you start to feel you can win any battle causing you to start losing battles.
This is not the first time I have seen refernce to Hizbullah using drones for reconnaisance. This inspires cognitive dissonance for me. I know the US has very fancy robots of various stripes, and a few very expensive unmanned jets, and I can only assume that when talking about non-US/NATO tech, we are talking about something very different.
Does anyone here know anything about these drones, or have a link to details about this? It’s been bugging me for some time.
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Israel is a strong U.S. ally in the war against terror, a long-time friend, and a confidant on issues pertaining to Middle East peace and security. That unique relationship however, has been recently challenged by Israel’s attempted to sell sophisticated unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or Harpy Killer drones to China.
Drone Tug-o-War Involves RumsfeldThis has led some analysts to speculate that the depth and strength of the Israel-US bilateral relationship is now in question — with a reformulation almost inevitable.
● U.S. Puts Sanctions on 7 Foreign Companies Dealing With Iran
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Oui, I do not know how you do it! Good god have you followed the leads int he links? wow!
Scary history and future, isn’t it?
Have you seen this piece from 2004?
The PMCs conduct business globally with virtually no restrictions.
Yhe irony found in choosing the name Harpy is not lost in that mythology.
Hizbullah proved in the very first day of the IDF invasion their field commanders were capable of operational maneuver under fire and assault. The Hizbullah proto-army — dunno what else to call ’em — has demonstrated a willingness to stand their ground and take casualities in order to inflict casualities. This combination is a huge leap in military capability over guerrilla tactics.
Learning military science ‘On the Job,’ as it were, is a Darwinian environment. You lose a lot of soldiers in the first go-rounds but the ones who don’t die get really good at staying alive while doing their job. Meanwhile the Israelis are calling up their reserves to feed into the battle area (?) which would result in inexperienced infantry attacking into fortified positions manned by veterans with pre-determined fire zones. A good way to chew-up infantry.
The IDF is using their fighter/bombers in the attempt to attack the Hizbullah logistic chain. It won’t work. The US Air Force was unable to halt Viet Cong re-supply using B-52s and the IDF has nowhere near the same bomber capability. In the best case scenario, they may slow the rate of re-supply; the worst case is no affect.
Hizbullah was given the strategic advantage, by Israel, when Israel said it’s aim was to dis-arm Hizbullah and halt the possibility of rocket attacks. In order to do that the IDF has to occupy southern Lebanon. In order to occupy southern Leanon they have to militarily defeat Hizbullah. Which means they have to attack Hizbullah.
The Hizbullah military commander – who ‘ere he is – is in the operational commanders version of heaven: strategic offense and tactical defense.
The above was supposed to be attached to the main diary.
Me bad.
never mind, I still like what y ou said…I think your pov is accurate, btw.
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The row over a $260 million contract won by Israel’s Aeronautics Ventures to supply aerial drones for use in the Niger Delta coincides with last week’s sacking of National Security Advisor General Aliyu Mohammed Gusau by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Off topic, but not really. Respecting the expertise here, I would like to ask this. What about OUR military in Iraq?Afghanistan. How are OUR forces holding up? When do we get in too deep to be able to withdraw? (In other words, are we in any danger of a 21st century Dunkirk?)