Israel-Hezbolla; Lebanon stuck in the middle: The new Middle East Crisis (1 Viewer)

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Chxta

Onye kwe, Chi ya ekwe
Nov 1, 2004
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The Israel Defense Forces is preparing for a major, sustained assault into southern Lebanon to eliminate the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. The assault will extend at least to the Litani River -- the first natural barrier, roughly 20 miles into Lebanon -- and possibly all the way to areas south of Beirut. The advance might have been intended for July 16, when the reservists of the Israeli Northern Command who were just activated will have had 72 hours to spin up. However, since rockets fired from Lebanon hit Israel's port city of Haifa on July 13, Israel's 7th Armored, Golani and Barak Brigades -- some of the elite and most decorated units of the regular Israeli army -- might push ahead as far as the Litani and let the reservists catch up later.

If the IDF makes this push into Lebanon, the Golani Brigade likely will advance in the east, along the Syrian border to the Bekaa Valley. Its advance probably will be accompanied by air assaults delivering infantry units to the villages at the valley's base. Penetrating the more populated areas further up the valley will involve difficult, urban fighting.



The Barak Brigade, which received the state-of-the-art Merkava Mark 3 tank in 2005, will advance up the coast along a difficult and potentially mined highway. A Merkava tank was already destroyed by a mine July 12 containing a powerful charge that could have been shaped to penetrate heavy armor. If this is the case, it almost certainly came from foreign sources, either Iran or beyond.

The 7th Armored Brigade will advance up the middle, ready to reinforce either the left or right flank. It also could encounter mines. Besides anti-tank mines, Hezbollah is thought to possess anti-tank missiles more advanced than the 1970s-era Soviet AT-3 Sagger anti-tank missile. If Hezbollah's arsenal is sufficiently advanced and properly employed, it could effectively challenge Israeli armor.

The longer the IDF waits to push into Lebanon, and the more brigades it amasses, the more likely the Israelis are planning to drive all the way into areas south of Beirut. A push to the Litani would involve about five brigades; a deeper invasion would involve seven to 12.

There will be, at the very minimum, heavy Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses operations by the Israeli air force (IAF) along the Syrian border. The IAF will at least heavily jam Syrian radar and employ all the electronic countermeasures it has. If Syria does not make a compelling public statement of abstaining from involvement in the conflict, the IAF will likely make a pre-emptive strike against the Syrian air defense network, which Israeli planes successfully penetrated in June, buzzing Syrian President Bashar al Assad's private residence.

Despite the political stunt flyby, Syria's air defense network is still amply equipped and its air force boasts, among other aircraft, 80 MiG-29 and 10 Su-27 fighters. Operationally, Syria has always crumbled when it faced the IDF, and its air defense and pilot training regimens are certainly below par. But nevertheless, Syria's air defense network extends over much of southern Lebanon and poses a very real danger to IAF operations over Lebanon. Israel successfully devastated this air force in 1982 in a pre-emptive strike. If the Israelis decide that Syria might resist their efforts in Lebanon, Israel will not hesitate to take the network out. A devastating pre-emptive strike is preferable to a protracted engagement with the whole air defense network at full alert -- a much more complex endeavor that would detract from operations in Lebanon. As long as the Israelis leave Syrian assets intact, they fight with an exposed right flank.

The near future will almost certainly see small firefights as Israeli special forces reconnaissance units take up more positions inside Lebanon. Of course, the bulk of these units will go undetected. IDF shelling and airstrikes will continue unabated. Depending on Hezbollah's endurance and survivability, their rockets will continue to fly as well.

As its forces gather and reservists kick into high gear, Israel stands on the verge of attempting to completely annihilate Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
 

PhRoZeN

Livin with Mediocre
Mar 29, 2006
15,903
Chxta said:
The Israel Defense Forces is preparing..
Hmm an interesting read. My prediction? Israelis border streching and engulfing south of lebanon and maybe more. Possibly taking a few miles of syria too. Another breach of a UN resolution, ive seriously ran out of counts.

On a personal level, my best friend lives in Tyre he moved back from Uk to lebanon a few years ago, its really sad and quite anxious, I talk to him a few times a month, with the last time being a few weeks ago. I pray he and his family as well as the rest of the lebanese survive from this tyranny.
 
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Eddy

Eddy

The Maestro
Aug 20, 2005
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  • Thread Starter #467
    This is bad. Hezballah are smart and will destroy the Israelis at all cost. They always tried but they got screwed in the end.
     
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    Eddy

    Eddy

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    Aug 20, 2005
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  • Thread Starter #468
    PhRoZeN said:
    Hmm an interesting read. My prediction? Israelis border streching and engulfing south of lebanon and maybe more. Possibly taking a few miles of syria too. Another breach of a UN resolution, ive seriously ran out of counts.

    On a personal level, my best friend lives in Tyre he moved back from Uk to lebanon a few years ago, its really sad and quite anxious, I talk to him a few times a month, with the last time being a few weeks ago. I pray he and his family as well as the rest of the lebanese survive from this tyranny.
    Tyranny it is, the whole world is on Lebanon's side.
     

    Hambon

    Lion of the Desert
    Apr 22, 2005
    8,073
    Israel has no chance if they decide to take lebanon by ground...member 2000 they got shooed out like little infants... Hizboallah these days is no joke,the war is young
     
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    Eddy

    Eddy

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    Aug 20, 2005
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  • Thread Starter #470
    if they had air support, i would feel very very sorry for the Israelis
     

    Il Re

    -- 10 --
    Jan 13, 2005
    4,031
    Bianconeri9 said:
    You really don't know anything.
    Israel doesnt receive any ammunition because they MAKE the BEST weapons in the world, and they're known for it.
    They dont get money either, economy in Israel is not good. they used to be in the top 3 economies in the world, now they are like 50th.
    :disagree: oh dear........
     

    Stickyicky

    Junior Member
    May 19, 2006
    307
    edpiero said:
    Tyranny it is, the whole world is on Lebanon's side.
    Hardly, personally i think it's about time Hezbollah gets dealt with. Israeli's shouldn't be forced to live in fear because of terrorist murderers.

    If people of the World are objekting it's only because they want to spare the lives of innocent civilians, not because they support Hezbollah. When most of Hezbollah get's captured or killed this will be remembered as a succesfull operation.

    Exactly they way it was when the U.s wanted to take out Sadaam, massive objektions and then the same people who objekted were happy that filth like Sadaam got captured. All the scandals came sometime afterwards, for a while there it was considered a massive succes because they captured Sadaam.
     

    mikhail

    Senior Member
    Jan 24, 2003
    9,576
    Stickyicky said:
    Exactly they way it was when the U.s wanted to take out Sadaam, massive objektions and then the same people who objekted were happy that filth like Sadaam got captured. All the scandals came sometime afterwards, for a while there it was considered a massive succes because they captured Sadaam.
    I think that's the single most perverted representation of the anti-war movement I've ever read. Plenty of people objected the whole way through.
     
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    Eddy

    Eddy

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    Aug 20, 2005
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    Stickyicky said:
    Hardly, personally i think it's about time Hezbollah gets dealt with. Israeli's shouldn't be forced to live in fear because of terrorist murderers.

    If people of the World are objekting it's only because they want to spare the lives of innocent civilians, not because they support Hezbollah. When most of Hezbollah get's captured or killed this will be remembered as a succesfull operation.

    Exactly they way it was when the U.s wanted to take out Sadaam, massive objektions and then the same people who objekted were happy that filth like Sadaam got captured. All the scandals came sometime afterwards, for a while there it was considered a massive succes because they captured Sadaam.
    Disagreed. Beware that Hezbollah are not a terrorist organization. Who even comes up with stuff like that ?
     

    Stickyicky

    Junior Member
    May 19, 2006
    307
    mikhail said:
    I think that's the single most perverted representation of the anti-war movement I've ever read. Plenty of people objected the whole way through.
    Who said they didn't? I said they were happy when Sadaam got captured.

    I think you missed my point.
     
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    Eddy

    Eddy

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    Aug 20, 2005
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    Stickyicky said:
    The U.s, Isreal, England, Holland and ME.:D
    You have to understand that they are a group who are patriotic and they are only defending their land. I would like to get into detail bla bla why their not fully acceptable as a goverment (they are but in some sectors) but I am really not in the mood to right an essay. All you should know is that The Civil War was the cause and some members of the parliament didn't want them and some did (protection of a country's reasons). They have focused their arms on the South because that is where Israel is. Although you may think they are fanatics...there not, people like Usama Bin Laden and the Al-Quaida organisation are the real terrorists and that is a huge insult to Islam.
     

    Stickyicky

    Junior Member
    May 19, 2006
    307
    mikhail said:
    No, you said that people considered it a "massive success". Which is very different.
    "Exactly they way it was when the U.s wanted to take out Sadaam, massive objektions and then the same people who objekted were happy that filth like Sadaam got captured."

    Here i say the protesters were happy.

    "All the scandals came sometime afterwards, for a while there it was considered a massive succes because they captured Sadaam."

    In the sentence above i am not talking about the protesters specifically even though some of them did change their minds. I'm just writing about World opinion at that time. Do you remember when Sadaam got captured and a lot less people had been killed in the war then predicted? At that point in time the polls showed that it was considered a "massive succes".
     
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