badgolferman
2024-09-29 11:45:29 UTC
Whatever one’s views on Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon hitherto,
from a military and a security perspective the operation to take down the
Hezbollah command and control networks is singularly extraordinarily
impressive.
This is not some hastily-construed mission in the wake of the genocidal
attacks by Hamas as witnessed in the immediate aftermath of October 7, but
a highly sophisticated strike clearly coordinated with years of intricate
and synchronised intelligence gathering – allowing Israel to map the
terrorists from top to bottom.
We will probably never know the full extent of the intelligence behind the
dismantling of the Hezbollah military network, but having been involved in
similar operations against Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban I know it will be
deep, varied and comprehensive. No doubt the “Human Intelligence”
operators, spies to you and me, have been embedded in Lebanon for years.
This is the indirect approach to military operations, devised by British
tank commander Basil Liddell Hart, as a way to conduct operations and avoid
the hideous level of casualties he experienced in WW1. At its heart is
doing what the enemy will never expect, attacking weakness and reinforcing
success.
The ability to force the terrorists off their mobile phones and onto pagers
and push-to-talk radios was a flash of brilliance – and extraordinarily
audacious. Not only did it injure thousands of terrorists, but also
identified them and their commanders
This knowledge was then used by the Israelis who in the last 7 days have
systematically taken out their leaders, culminating today with the
announcement that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is no more. Equally
impressive is the hold that the nation has over the Ayatollahs in Tehran,
who have pretty much stood by and thrown Hezbollah under the proverbial
Israeli juggernaut. They are no doubt fearful that Israel might take the
fight to Iran, which the US would likely turn a blind eye to.
There will be many siren voices from the military academic community asking
why, if Israel can manage to virtually obliterate a terrorist organisation,
the UK failed to do the same in Iraq and Afghanistan. The answer is
threefold. Firstly, the Israelis seem pretty much unencumbered by rules of
engagement which always hamstrung our operations in the Middle East.
Secondly, the IDF seem to be undeterred by their politicians who appear to
accept extraordinary levels of civilian casualties and collateral damage.
And thirdly, this is an existential fight for the survival of the Israeli
state which was never the case in Iraq and Afghanistan for us.
However, the coalition operation led by the US and including the UK to
defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria between 2015 to 2017 was not dissimilar, and
effectively culminated in the defeat of the jihadists. This time I was
supporting the Iraqi Kurd military, the Peshmerga on the ground, rather
than as a British soldier, with the coalition providing precision strikes
and intelligence on an industrial scale without having boots on the ground.
Again, with generous rules of engagement and all those around ISIS
considered combatants, collateral damage and casualties were not
significant issues.
The implications of today’s action cannot be understated. Israel has seized
the initiative in the most extraordinary manner, and this demonstration of
military brilliance may well even convince Tehran to direct its other
terror proxy Hamas to release the remaining hostages and sue for peace
across the region. We can only hope.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-proved-most-impressive-military-115439222.html
from a military and a security perspective the operation to take down the
Hezbollah command and control networks is singularly extraordinarily
impressive.
This is not some hastily-construed mission in the wake of the genocidal
attacks by Hamas as witnessed in the immediate aftermath of October 7, but
a highly sophisticated strike clearly coordinated with years of intricate
and synchronised intelligence gathering – allowing Israel to map the
terrorists from top to bottom.
We will probably never know the full extent of the intelligence behind the
dismantling of the Hezbollah military network, but having been involved in
similar operations against Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban I know it will be
deep, varied and comprehensive. No doubt the “Human Intelligence”
operators, spies to you and me, have been embedded in Lebanon for years.
This is the indirect approach to military operations, devised by British
tank commander Basil Liddell Hart, as a way to conduct operations and avoid
the hideous level of casualties he experienced in WW1. At its heart is
doing what the enemy will never expect, attacking weakness and reinforcing
success.
The ability to force the terrorists off their mobile phones and onto pagers
and push-to-talk radios was a flash of brilliance – and extraordinarily
audacious. Not only did it injure thousands of terrorists, but also
identified them and their commanders
This knowledge was then used by the Israelis who in the last 7 days have
systematically taken out their leaders, culminating today with the
announcement that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is no more. Equally
impressive is the hold that the nation has over the Ayatollahs in Tehran,
who have pretty much stood by and thrown Hezbollah under the proverbial
Israeli juggernaut. They are no doubt fearful that Israel might take the
fight to Iran, which the US would likely turn a blind eye to.
There will be many siren voices from the military academic community asking
why, if Israel can manage to virtually obliterate a terrorist organisation,
the UK failed to do the same in Iraq and Afghanistan. The answer is
threefold. Firstly, the Israelis seem pretty much unencumbered by rules of
engagement which always hamstrung our operations in the Middle East.
Secondly, the IDF seem to be undeterred by their politicians who appear to
accept extraordinary levels of civilian casualties and collateral damage.
And thirdly, this is an existential fight for the survival of the Israeli
state which was never the case in Iraq and Afghanistan for us.
However, the coalition operation led by the US and including the UK to
defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria between 2015 to 2017 was not dissimilar, and
effectively culminated in the defeat of the jihadists. This time I was
supporting the Iraqi Kurd military, the Peshmerga on the ground, rather
than as a British soldier, with the coalition providing precision strikes
and intelligence on an industrial scale without having boots on the ground.
Again, with generous rules of engagement and all those around ISIS
considered combatants, collateral damage and casualties were not
significant issues.
The implications of today’s action cannot be understated. Israel has seized
the initiative in the most extraordinary manner, and this demonstration of
military brilliance may well even convince Tehran to direct its other
terror proxy Hamas to release the remaining hostages and sue for peace
across the region. We can only hope.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-proved-most-impressive-military-115439222.html