Israel to target Hezbollah tunnels in its strategy for a new war against Lebanon, report

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A man in Mleeta , south Lebanon walks in a tunnel in an underground bunker at the Resistance Museum, a showcase built by Hezbollah, Nov. 14, 2013. (photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
A man in Mleeta , south Lebanon walks in a tunnel in an underground bunker at the Resistance Museum, a showcase built by Hezbollah, Nov. 14, 2013. (photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Israel is planning its strategy to counter Hezbollah’s tunnel systems and projected strategy of rapidly invading Israeli territory at the onset of hostilities to project a picture of victory by taking a community or IDF outpost, Israeli website YNET reported on Monday

According to the report , 2 major changes are shaping the IDF’s preparations for a possible third Lebanon war: First, the army is training designated forces for ground maneuvers to fight entire companies or platoons of Hezbollah fighters that infiltrate Israeli territory. Second, it is training brigades to effectively and proficiently destroy Hezbollah’s tunnel strategy.The first approach reportedly entirely changes the outlook of battalion commanders, brigade commanders and thousands of combat soldiers for the next war. The traditional doctrine of rapid mobilization and entry into enemy territory in order to force surrender or defeat has been adopted by Hezbollah’s battle plan.
The IDF believes that Hezbollah’s Radwan Forces will attempt to infiltrate Israel in the early stages of a future war and attempt to paint a portrait of victory by planting the Hezbollah flag over an Israeli community or an IDF outpost along the border, the report added.

In recent weeks, the IDF has conducted several brigade exercises in order to reinforce changes in military doctrine for a fight against Hezbollah. For example, Nahal Brigade infantry forces were integrated into an exercise with the 401st Armored Brigade wherein a defensive war simulation in the north was conducted, Ynet reported continued to say

According to Israeli commanders, the scenario simulated included a force of Hezbollah fighters attempting to invade Israeli territory and the combined IDF force was to reinforce border communities, conduct ambushes at strategic points, conduct tactical deception, contain and secure the area and eliminate the enemy force.

“The enemy’s offensive capabilities have improved,” said a senior IDF officer with the 162nd Division. “Brigade commanders were defensively spread out with soldiers before they even reached the simulation area. Such a move gives flexibility to the division, which is responsible for the defense of the area and allows us to correct defensive vulnerabilities. Today, battalions realize they will immediately be playing defense regardless of fire or approval to maneuver, ” the report added.

IDF assessments today are that while Hezbollah hasn’t dug tunnels crossing the border into Israel like Hamas, they’ve definitely built infrastructure and fighting tunnels in and around Shiite villages in southern Lebanon.

The coordination of infantry forces with armor and engineering units is based on the principle of “location, insulation, destruction.” Ynet added.

“Today, every brigade force includes at least one engineering platoon with heavy equipment such as the D9,” explained the officer. “The best way to deal with a tunnel is to neutralize it without entering it. In the north, we see anti-tank missiles as a bigger threat than tunnels.” Ynet added.

In regards to the amount of changes to brigades in the next war and the new defensive tactics, the officer said, “An operative plan is in the works. We are practicing logic and competencies and short battles. You plan 12-24 hours in advance and not days in advance. I explain to commanders that the war begins defensively and we should practice routine defense before moving attack, which is good because it is an intermediate step before people can throw a grenade or fire a shell without permission, ” the report concluded.

Israel has been targeting Hezbollah in Syria . Several surface-to-surface missiles targeted Hezbollah’s targeting Hezbollah sites near the Syrian capital, in the Zabadani area last December. Another attack had been reported Nov. 30, on an arms convoy near Damascus. Hezbollah sent thousands of its fighters to Syria to help the regime of president Bashar al Assad in its fight against the rebels . The strikes are indicative of the long-running covert war between Hezbollah and Israel.

“Israel has made it clear that it won’t accept Hezbollah’s attempts to acquire what is defined by Israel as ‘balance breaking’ weapons, such as weapons of mass destruction, advanced ground-to-air missiles, etc, ” Avi Melamed, an Israeli affairs expert at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, told Al-Monitor last December

Hezbollah has remained mum about the recent Israeli operations. The organization had replied in restrained fashion to previous strikes, the boldest retaliation without a doubt following son of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh’s killing, when it targeted an Israeli border patrol with an improvised explosive device, killing two soldiers in the Shebaa Farms area.

But “Given the current conditions prevailing in Syria and Lebanon and taking into consideration the interests and factors involved, the likelihood of a massive Israeli-Hezbollah confrontation in the foreseeable future appears to be low,” Melamed assessed.

According to Gen. Amin Hoteit, a Lebanese military expert, the elements that could lead to a military operation against Hezbollah appear to be missing. “The guarantee of a successful mission, the possibility to strike and more importantly to translate a victory on the political scene are not available on the Israeli side,” he explained.

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63 responses to “Israel to target Hezbollah tunnels in its strategy for a new war against Lebanon, report”

  1. Rudy1947 Avatar

    The IDF should try digging some holes in appropriate locations about 10 meters deep, drop in some explosives and send some good vibrations throughout the tunnel world.

    1. You should dial Eizenkot and share your wisdom. (laughing)

      1. Rudy1947 Avatar

        It’s already been tried, just not enough IMO.

        1. That is why you should dial him.

        2. master09 Avatar

          The O man is so happy that HA will bring on to Lebanon another 50 Billon rebuilding project and thousands of children who will die.
          Keeps him in a job polishing HA shoes.

          1. Rudy1947 Avatar

            Must be a Lebanese thing where you spend half your covering up and the other trying to decide how to do it.

          2. He doesn’t remember which lie he told.

          3. I never advocated violence/war between Hezbollah-Israel and I hope they (Iran-Israel) shake hands one day – something I’ve said many times before. However, there are key players on both sides who are not interested in such deal and prefer chaos to profit from it. Peace is a two-way avenue.

  2. It is all good as long as the Russian continue to work with Israel to whack Hezb/Iran in Syria whenever they want to slow down the weapon flow to the Iranian occupation of Southern Lebanon and the Golans.
    Soon Russia will throw Iran under the bus and tell them to leave Syria so they can help give peace a chance.

    1. Mark your words because in geo-politics, what you see is now what you get.

      1. Let me ask you Omega, in your opinion, who holds the real power in Syria, based on facts? Be honest, no alternative realities.

        1. Before I answer your question, I need to know what you mean but ‘no alternative realities’.

          1. Based on factual information. Not make believe. A lot of media is unprofessional, severely slanted and many openly lie and post disinformation.

          2. I understand all that. The reason I asked you clarify is because this is the second time you asked me a question and end it that way. I have never posted anything that was/is make believe and/or from severely slanted, unprofessional media that that openly lie and post disinformation. I double check before posting. You may not not like what I like but it doesn’t make it untrue.

            There is a lot of myths vs realities – especially in geo-politics. I’ll give you an example: the 1973 Yom Kippur war. The mainstream narrative (myth) has it that the war started when Egypt crossed the Suez Canal. The reality is that Egypt, Israel and the USA worked together to start the war in order for each to attain respective objectives. In the process, we learn that Golda Mabovich (Golda Meir) sacrificed 2,000 IDF soldiers for it. I invite you to read about it here (it’s an article that an ex-IDF who was part of the war): http://bit.ly/2klO1vr

            The answer to you original question is straightforward: today, it is Iran.

          3. proof that idiots are attracted to inane conspiracy theories.

          4. Conspiracy, yes. Theory, no. Read the article.

          5. Wouldn’t trust any virus infested site you linked to.

          6. There is another poster here. He too refers to the links I post as ‘virus infected’ without even reading them. He too pushes the ‘conspiracy theory’ argument towards anyone and anything he disagrees with; and he too absolutely hates Hezbollah.

            Mekenseh, is that thou?

          7. Since it is a medical fact that you (or at least your brain, or whatever you got in lieu of it) are virus-infected, precautionary measures vis-à-vis your links are perfectly reasonable. 🙂

          8. Another silly one with French words.

          9. The Arab Nazi retard holds the Holy Grail of Francophonie. Oy vey.

          10. At least, and unlike you and your ilk, I don’t pretend to speak a language while using Google Translate. But that is not the point here. The usage of French words while writing English is – it’s silly.

          11. “At least I don’t try to pretend…”

            That’s actually good, pal. Pretentious genetic garbage would certainly be too much to bear.

            P.S. If you were a little less retarded, you’d probably know that the English language has absorbed about half its vocabulary from French. But then me bothering to tell you you that is indeed silly. Pearls before swine, pal, pearls before swine (metaphorically, of course: pigs are smart and useful animals, while you are neither).

          12. The English language absorbed a lot from French but has its equivalencies. Some examples: capitaine-> captain, mousquetaire -> musketeer, donjon -> dungeon, etc.

            Why don’t you write: The three mousquetaires went up the hill. John Smith was the capitaine in charge? Etc.

            The usage of French words (without using their proper equivalencies) in English is what idiots do. I guess it makes them look fancier and less dumb.

          13. Rudy1947 Avatar

            And Spanish, German, Italian, Hebrew, etc.

          14. What part of translated and/or with equivalencies don’t you understand?

            You used ‘passé’ in the English language yesterday. It has a translation and/or an equivalency: past, old. So do ‘in lieu’ (instead) and ‘vis-à-vis’ (in regards to) used by Y K.

          15. Rudy1947 Avatar

            Soooooooo whaaaaaat. You’re a schlemiel. Check the origin of that word.

          16. That word looks Yiddish/German, not English.

          17. Rudy1947 Avatar

            Hebrew derived just like other English words used today. One of our NFL teams has a name derived from Spanish, the Broncos. The list is long and distinguished to include Latin of course.

          18. How is it Hebrew derived when Yiddish is not Hebrew but an old German dialect with words from Hebrew and other modern languages?

            There are no words in the English language that derive directly from Modern Hebrew language. Modern Hebrew itself is not the same as ancient Hebrew. Yiddish is spoken in Germany, USA and Israel mostly/(only) – not part of the English language but an influence of migrants.

            Dumb example with Bronco. I means ‘rough’. You don’t use the Spanish word ‘bronco’ to express ‘rough’ in English, do you? ‘Plaza’ is a better example.

          19. In the immortal words of Austin Powers, the imbecile is a cunning linguist. I bet he’s also a master baiter. 🙂

          20. Pas besoin d’être un maître en la matière pour de telles banalités. (clin d’oeil)

          21. No need for clins d’œil, pal. I can read you as an open book (in your case, more like a garbage bin) as it is. 🙂

          22. Idiots who can google are the worst. 🙂

          23. Rudy1947 Avatar

            OMG, hope you don’t have responsibilities over life.

          24. ‘OMG’? How old are you? 17?

            Either way, ‘OMG’ what? That I asked him to clarify himself or that you never know the US, Israel and Egypt concocted the war of 1973?

          25. Rudy1947 Avatar

            70 this year how old are you……never get an answer to that. BTW….
            Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuullllllllllll llllllllllllll
            Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt!

          26. You never asked how old I was.

            Back to topic: ‘OMG’ is used by children, teenage girls and homosexual men. Suit yourself.

          27. Rudy1947 Avatar

            I just did or is English a forth language.

            Creating worthless scenarios about past events are used by dumb, s2pid, wannabes that little sense or intelligence. Probably paid for a document stating a level of education well beyond their level of intellect.

          28. Yes you ‘just’ did; not before.

            Quit making stuff up. I did not create any scenario about past event. I brought up facts on an important, past war in the Middle East.

            Quit diverting. Unlike the USA, people don’t pay for documents stating a level of education. We acquire them through years of study (and research for higher levels). The documents in question are part of the education progress and are universally decided, accepted and recognized. I don’t make the rules. Go complain to the thousands of universities around the world instead of squealing here.

          29. Rudy1947 Avatar

            What the he!! are you ranting about now.

          30. I believe you’re the one ranting the education progression, not me.

          31. Rudy1947 Avatar

            Have a drink, soothing tea or a glass of milk and go to bed.

          32. Soothing tea or a milk before bed is not my thing (or ‘forté you and Y K). A finger or two of aged whisky does wonders – but it’s too early for that where I am. Gute natch burrito.

          33. Iran is not militarily powerful enough for one, and their economy is dismal and subject to change due to corruption and mismanagement and flawed government design/power structure. With out Russia, Iran and its POG were facing retreat and defeat in Syria.
            So I feel Russia is looking after their own business, using Shia armies to put boots on the ground and do most of the dying, and the US will now have to develop a new plan post-Obama to work with the Russian and create a new Syria of their design. Assad is on the way out at some point and Syria will not revert to the power structure it had with the Assad dynasty.
            This war is not over till Assad is removed and the Russians must know this already.

            The Russians would mostly sellout Iran if it could improve relations with the US and repair its sanctioned economy for its people. The mullahs do not hold that much value and Iran would still buy weapons and nuclear technology from them anyways. Read the article and see what you think. This is new and maybe complete fantasy but the possibility is there. We are just not far enough up the food chain to know the real plan.

            http://www.debka.com/article/25900/Trump-Putin-safe-zones-deal-ousts-Iran-from-Syria

          34. I agree that without Russia, Iran would have had hard time in Syria and that Russia is there to protect its interests.

            The article you posted echoes what I’ve always said: there are no friends in geo-politics, only interests and thus, I would not be surprised if it happens. Especially if it was something talked about between Putin and Obama in 2015 and now again between Trump and Putin. That could also indicate a potential war between Iran and the West. On the other hand, the UK just signaled a change in policy with Assad/Syria.

            What I know is that things are never the way they seem. I posted the example of the 1973 Yom Kippur war where the mainstream narrative states the war started when Egypt crossed the Suez Canal while it was planned between the USA, Israel and Egypt – each to reach respective objectives. Something tells me the war in Syria and a potential war with Iran may not be all that different. Syria/Iran/Russia on one side and the West on the other – all to reach a common/respective objective(s). At the end of the day, wars are conflicts between kleptocratic oligarchies while the people fight each other in ideologies, societies and wars.

          35. I thought you meant who has in influence. I agree that without Russia, Iran would have had hard time in Syria and that Russia is there to protect its interests.

            The article you posted echoes what I’ve always said: there are no friends in geo-politics, only interests and thus, I would not be surprised if it happens. Especially if it was something talked about between Putin and Obama in 2015 and now again between Trump and Putin. That could also indicate a potential war between Iran and the West. On the other hand, the UK just signaled a change in policy with Assad/Syria.

            What I know is that things are never the way they seem. I posted the example of the 1973 Yom Kippur war where the mainstream narrative states the war started when Egypt crossed the Suez Canal while it was planned between the USA, Israel and Egypt – each to reach respective objectives. Something tells me the war in Syria and a potential war with Iran may not be all that different. Syria/Iran/Russia on one side and the West on the other – all to reach respective and/or common objective(s). At the end of the day, wars are conflicts between kleptocratic oligarchies while the people fight each other in ideologies, societies and wars.

          36. That’s true.

          37. master09 Avatar

            As a kid I was made to believe that pigs can fly and even today I still believe pigs can fly.
            Words are words until the reader translates what the mind wants to believe.
            Some more than others.

          38. Unfortunately, our buddy Omega and his girlfiend Hezbyad here are living proof that your decription of reality may be right. 🙂

    2. Sadly, I’m not so optimistic about Putin’s Russia. It has a commonality of both values and interests with Hezbollah, making a break improbable in the near future.

  3. These tunnels some of which exit directly under elementary schools only have one purpose the killing and kidnapping of Israelis. Terrorist tunnels made by terrorists for the explicit use of terrorism.

    1. Under elementary schools? (laughing) Your rabid, lying tendencies have no bound.

      The Pharisaic (known today as Jews/Zionists) invented terrorism. From the time of the Sicarii, to the massacre of tens of millions of Christians in Russia and Turkey, the King David Hotel bombing, the dozens of terror false-flags in the Middle East and around the world. Absolutely nobody beats you guys.

  4. Hannibal Avatar

    That won’t work neither… Next round 50,000 rockets will hammer occupied Palestine and both Hezbollah and the LAFs will free Upper Galilee in a planned blitz.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkEdgrK5AdM

    1. In today’s warfare, no one can succeed with a Blitzkrieg (“lightning war”) that you preach i your “a planned blitz”, an old tactic the “Blitzkrieg”.

  5. Since Israel liberated Judea and Samaria (commonly termed the West Bank) half a century ago, the international community hasn’t missed an opportunity to condemn her presence there, but that doesn’t make it illegal. Israel was forced into a war of survival and captured its historical highlands, which were legally ownerless at the time. The land wasn’t taken from another nation that had legal rights to it.

    Furthermore, Israel has legal, moral and historical rights to the land. This isn’t the occupation of a foreign territory, rather it is the Jewish people’s return to their ancestral homeland after 2,000 years of exile and unprecedented genocidal persecution. The Land of Israel is literally soaked in thousands of years of Jewish history, and archeological evidence to support this fact is displayed in museums worldwide.

    Even if one was to put ancient history aside, Israel’s legal claim is still as solid as the hills it inhabits. The State of Israel captured territory that did not belong to any other country and which was already designated for the establishment of the Jewish state. The legal status of Palestine, which the Balfour Declaration (1917) earmarked as the future “national home for the Jewish people,” was determined by the League of Nations (1920), the San Remo agreements (1920) and the British Mandate, in addition to being approved by the US Congress (1922). In the absence of any other laws, these laws still apply today, making Israel’s presence legal and valid.

    As countries across the Middle East continue to crumble and Islamists move into every vacuum, the issue of where Israelis build in Judea and Samaria has become irrelevant. The reality is, Israel already has Islamic State on two of its borders and cannot afford to have them overtake Judea and Samaria in the same way that Hamas has taken over Gaza. Peace will come when Palestinian leaders make it a real priority. Until then, Jews and Arabs will continue to live, grow, work and thrive side by side in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Judea, irrespective of how the international community chooses to label them.

    1. Israel did not liberate Judea and Samaria (that were once conquered and then lost by the Israelites who have no ties to today’s Jews), it stole it. And yes, it is internationally recognized as illegal – even if the delusional Zionists refuse to accept it. The land belongs to the inhabitants of the land; regardless if they were/are Muslim, Christian or Jewish – not European, Eastern European and ROW Jews with no ties to the land and that, even if they change their last names.

      Israel’s legal, moral and historical rights to the land have been invented, made-up, hijacked and falsified by European Zionists who wanted the land to control the Middle East. To date, there no archeological evidence of Pharisaic (aka Jewish) cities anywhere in present-day Israel. Forensic archeology and historical records show that there is no Jewish connection to Jerusalem (UNESCO), that al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock are not built on Temple Mount, that the Wester Wall are the remains of a Roman (Pagan) fortress, that the Exodus of 600,000 families (2,000,000) never happened, etc. Museums have no artifacts of any of that; especially in Egypt. On the other hand, there is a lot of artifacts and archeological evidence of Jewish life in the real homeland of the Hebrews: Yemen.

      The Balfour Declaration pledged a Jewish Homeland with a unitary Palestine. Neither the Mandate of 1920 or the San Remo state boundaries of a Jewish State made in part of in whole of Palestine. Additionally, the Mandate expired in 1948 without having set any borders. Twisting international laws to grant yourselves eternal rights doesn’t change anything to the fact that the lands are recognized as ‘occupied’ territories.

      The crumbling countries are due to the West’s meddling (illegal invasions, bombing and wars). The very same goes for Africa. Israel most certainly doesn’t complain to see the Middle East go down and it does its part to help (in supporting their Wahhabi cousins). Besides, what goes on in the Middle East is irrelevant to the continuous land grabbing.

      1. I guess when you lie endless babbling is a prerequisite.

        1. Care to show me where I lied?

          1. “The truly “ignorant,” however, are those who have bought the “Palestinian homeland” propaganda. Where was all this talk about a homeland for the Palestinians in 1948, when the Arab armies invaded Israel? Their aim was not to create a Palestinian state, but rather to carve up the rest of British Mandatory Palestine … “Abdullah [ruler of Transjordan] was to swallow up the central hill regions of Palestine . . . The Egyptians would get the Negev. The Galilee would go to Syria, except that the coastal part as far as Acre would be added to the Lebanon.” Until 1967, the so-called “West Bank” was part of Jordan, but none of the Arab nations agitated for the creation of a Palestinian state. The “Palestinian homeland” became a tactical weapon after violence failed to achieve this.

          2. Palestine exists since the 5th century BCE – it’s mentioned in both religious and historical records. The 1922 British mandate also clearly refers to it as ‘Palestine’. It had/has people who have been living on the land for centuries. There was no talk of a homeland for anyone until the Europeans decided they wanted Palestine. All co-lived before that.

            When Balfour (agent of the British Empire with a long list of geo-political aspirations) handed the Declaration to Rothschild, Palestine was not under British control and belonged to the Ottoman Empire. It was another document (concocted a year before the Balfour Declaration and approved by Sykes (on behalf of Britain) and Picot (on behalf of France)) that was instrumental in ‘validating’ the objectives of the Balfour Declaration. The aim (of the Sykes-Picot document) was to collapse the Ottoman Empire and partition the land among the parties who conquered it (Russia was in on it). In collapsing the Ottoman Empire, England also put an end to German hegemony in the Middle East with their railroad to Baghdad. [On a related note, WW1’s real/true objective was also the destruction of industrious Germany.] The partition of the Middle East and the creation of Israel were purely geo-political and a question of hegemony. The land for the Jews (lamentably supported with falsified, hijacked and distorted religious fallacies) is nothing but a cover up.

            The League of Nation (created and backed by the instigators of WW1 and the conquerors of the Middle East: UK, US, France) granted Britain the Mandate of Palestine in 1922 but nobody consulted the inhabitants of the land. The Palestinians pretty much ‘disappear’ to everyone’s eyes only to resurface later as ‘terrorists’ when they fought back for what was taken from them. It was not up to England to decide who got what. You’re forgetting that England incited Arab countries attacked Israel – granting Israelis more right to ‘protect’ themselves and grab more lands.

  6. Are those Hezbollah tunnels safer then the one digged by Hamas operative?

    I have a feeling that Gaza will never have a metro network judging from the latest raports from the Islamist movement which rules the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

    According to Hamas operative Yussef al-Agha died when a tunnel collapsed in the southern Gaza Strip on Friday.
    (L’Orient-Le Jour)

    1. Rudy1947 Avatar

      Access to better and more materials would make me think they would be.

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