"... Both Hezbollah and Hamas have witnessed harsh Israeli retaliations.... According to this multi-tiered doctrine, guerilla organizations, unlike Arab regimes, do not have a single core that needs to be defended at all costs. Nasrallah stated that organizational survival must be preserved so that rocket fire can continue without interruption, up until the last day of fighting. In other words, the defense of missile layouts is the highest military objective. Scatted all over Lebanon and Gaza, Hezbollah and Hamas’s layouts have a large number of "hearts" protected by a great number of layers.
Both organizations have made sure to conceal their rocket layouts; by deploying them in urban areas and hiding them in regions with thick vegetation, they create strategic depth. Thus, the guerilla organizations' layer doctrine comes into focus: the heart of the organization is in urban areas, villages and cities establish rocket and operating teams, and the local population and underground networks are all part of the operational doctrine. In Lebanon, the first arc includes observation posts, anti-tank ambushes, and snipers. This serves as a tripwire, by warning the urban area of the enemy's approach. Besides delaying the IDF advance, this layer also informs the urban area of the enemy's size, composition, and direction. Surrounding the first layer is the second layer (usually the thickest). It extends up to one or two kilometers from the Israeli border. Its main objective is to trap the enemy in a kill zone that it dominates by virtue of being on higher ground.
The death trap is planted with hidden explosive devices that IDF forces will inadvertently activate as they come under anti-tank missile fire. The third layer is located one to two kilometers inside Lebanon, only a few hundred meters from the border. This layer is made up of lookouts, anti-tank ambushes, and snipers whose objective is to spot IDF forces while they are still organizing, zero in on them with mortar fire, and disrupt their preparations. The guerilla organizations have many hearts surrounded by layers. Lebanon and Gaza are teeming with "onion clusters" that spread out from the Israeli border towards urban population centers and beyond. Both Hezbollah and Hamas assume that the IDF ground forces will attempt to penetrate these layers in a large-scale ground maneuver.
The Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead revealed the complexity, density, and lethal danger of the guerilla-style defensive layouts. Israel's decision-making apparatus and military leadership estimated that the number of casualties and losses of equipment were likely to accrue in a ground operation during the Second Lebanon War....
The enemy's layer doctrine can be dealt with, but it demands understanding, analysis, and training in order to reinforce the commander's self-confidence and his unit's ability to carry out an in-depth ground maneuver, whether it be in Lebanon or Gaza.""
Uprooted Palestinian
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