'Israel Training Intensively in Combat Tactics Suited to Lebanon'

Al-Manar

03/07/2010 "Should another war break out - like the one with Hezbollah almost exactly four years ago - the Golani Brigade will not be unprepared."

According to media reports, the Israeli army is carrying out drills that cope with the Second Lebanon War and includes an intensive penetration of the Israeli forces into the same regions. The reports noted that the drills aim at achieving better results in a potential next round of fighting.

The reports noted that the latest training tactics raising concern within the Israeli military leadership saw light in making a scenario of a potential war with Hezbollah in which the enemy controls the nature reserves created by Hezbollah in South Lebanon.

Amos Harel, the Haaretz military expert, revealed in a report he published that in the natural terrain around the Elyakim training base, the Israeli army has constructed outposts resembling as closely as possible Hezbollah's extensive system of bunkers and emplacements in nature reserves in southern Lebanon, which it failed to cope with during the Second Lebanon War. "Four years on the war, the Israeli army is training intensively in combat tactics suited to Lebanon, with the aim of achieving better results in a potential next round of fighting," he said.

The report noted that success in the next round will require both combing through and taking control of the terrain - to whatever extent that time allows - and striking at essential targets of Hezbollah and the Lebanon government. He recalled that the Elyakim training site is saturated with false explosive devices and camouflaged emplacements, in which the Golani reconnaissance troops are expected to uncover simulated rocket-launching sites.

The report quoted battalion commander Lt. Col. Oren Cohen as saying that although such a confrontation will cost Israel casualties, but the mission will be accomplished. "We know a lot more about nature reserves today than we did five years ago. If the battalion had been sent into sites like this in 2006, we would have paid a high price," he said. "While it's true that a local Hezbollah squad spends years preparing to defend itself against the Israeli forces at a particular location, in the end they only undergo a month and a half of training. Our soldiers are far more trained. Such a confrontation will cost us casualties, but the mission will be accomplished. I feel quite confident with the soldiers training below."

Harel also talked about the military abilities of Hezbollah and its coordination with Syria. "As part of the lessons of 2006, Hezbollah moved its center of gravity from nature reserves in open areas to compounds in the heart of villages and forests. The organization's assumption is that by fighting from within populated areas, they will wear down Israel, which will be apprehensive about a mass killing of civilians," he claimed. "The Israeli assessment is that neither Hezbollah nor Syria wants to engage in armed conflict this summer. Nonetheless, the fear of escalation remains - particularly if Hezbollah makes good on its plan to perpetrate a showcase terrorist attack abroad, as revenge for the assassination of its military commander Imad Mughniyeh two and a half years ago."

Meanwhile, Ari Shavit, another writer in Haaretz, noted that rumors about a war this summer were exaggerated and premature. He called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama to prevent the third Lebanon war - a war that is liable to break out during their terms and have their names on it.

"Everyone knows that the next war will be a terrible one, so nobody is eager to begin it. Nobody is risking a limited violent incident that might spark a large and unprecedented operation," he said. "The third Lebanon war will be a far more powerful version of the Second Lebanon War, with consequences like those of the Yom Kippur War."

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