Israel “massing” troops on the border
posted at 5:52 pm on July 21, 2006 by Bryan
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AP headline: Israel Massing Military on Lebanon Border
Israel massed tanks and troops on the border, called up reserves and warned civilians to flee Hezbollah-controlled southern Lebanon as it prepared Friday for a likely ground invasion to set up a deep buffer zone.
Israeli forces would conduct ground operations as needed in Lebanon, but they would be “limited,” Israeli army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz said. He also said nearly 100 Hezbollah guerrillas have been killed in the offensive in Lebanon.
So how big is this “mass” of troops that will conduct “limited” operations in southern Lebanon? According to FNC’s Jennifer Griffin, whom I just saw reporting from the border a few minutes ago, about 1,000 troops including about 30 tanks. To put that into some perspective, Israel has about 125,000 troops on active duty and another 600,000 in reserves, and over 600 tanks. Whatever you want to call the force that’s about to go into Lebanon (and probably come right back out once it has achieved some limited objective), it’s not a “mass.” It’s a unit or a brigade.
So why pick on this nit? Because the media has been fairly relentless in casting Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s rockets as “disproportionate,” and this characterization of Israel’s short-term future actions as “massive” appears to be more of the same. Israel isn’t yet likely to send in a truly massive ground force. What it will do is send in small units, take towns and villages, punch out the Hez nests they find, and move back out either to Israel or to the next town. Short term, this won’t be a take and hold action. It’s more likely to be search and destroy. The IDF will look for rocket caches, and finding them, destroy them–along with any Hezbollah terrorists nearby. Given the objective, which is to reduce that 13,000+ rocket stockpile as quickly as possible while reducing Hezbollah’s effectiveness as much as possible, a mass army invasion isn’t yet the way to go.
It would be nice if the bulk of the media took the time to understand the battlefield before trying to intepret it to the rest of the world.
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It’s a brigade. It isn’t enough to launch a full scale invasion. It isn’t enough to take and hold a much land. It isn’t enough to eliminate Hezbollah.
Pablo on July 21, 2006 at 6:15 PM
I just heard that the Lebanese army will come south and fight the IDF if they come into Lebanon.
Funny how they have never come in to take on hezbalah in the southern part of their country….
robo on July 21, 2006 at 6:17 PM
Isn’t that what the Israeli military has been doing for a few days now - small incursions into southern Lebanon?
Rick on July 21, 2006 at 6:21 PM
Politically correct — Jews as victims (Holocaust)
Politically incorrect — Jews in charge of their own destiny (Israel)
hadsil on July 21, 2006 at 6:34 PM
Israel needs to send 3 division in… 2 armored in a pincer movement to the River about 20 miles north of the border… seal it… then in infantry division SLOWLY to sanitize the area… with a base of fire from the now entrenched Armored Divs… hammer… meet anvil…
Romeo13 on July 21, 2006 at 6:37 PM
Romeo, Pablo
Then where’s the rest of the army
Maybe this is part of the surprise and why they’re letting the cameras in
Defector01 on July 21, 2006 at 6:58 PM
The last thing Israeli commanders should be doing is telegraphing their intentions to the commercial voyeurs in the media. I would hope they have a well-developed deception plan. They should use forces not yet identified by the media and attack where the media (and Hezbollah) would not expect it. They should always remember that some of their enemies do carry weapons.
rplat on July 21, 2006 at 7:02 PM
Nope…. they should be telegraphing their intentions…
Hez only has about 6000 fighters, who have now been on alert for days… theres really nothing Hez has which can stop a 2 or 3 division strike….
Now.. on the other hand… an imminent Israeli invasion MAY just get the UN off their butts and make them actually do somthing constructive, like vote for the Military power for France, Italy, and Russis (as they have volunteered to do) to implement and enforce both 1559 and a DMZ.
Romeo13 on July 21, 2006 at 7:15 PM
The way it reads, you’d think it was the Chinese going over the Yalu River, instead of a brigade going in for some in & out.
Sadly Bryan, the bulk of the media has done that due diligence, and willingly chooses the picture that they want to present.
Kid from Brooklyn on July 21, 2006 at 7:37 PM
I am starting to get a bit annoyed at Shepsrd Smith’s hyperbole–treating every Israeli recon probe that comes back with casualties as a defeat on the same magnitude as Stalingrad.
I do believe that unless Israel wins decisively in its confrontation with Hezbollah that the Islamo-facists will win a huge propaganda victory aided and abetted by the sympathetic MSM. Obviously a ground assault by Israel involves big risks. Failure to carry out a ground assault, however, carries the certitude of defeat.
MaiDee on July 21, 2006 at 8:40 PM
I agree on Smith . . . he’s starting to grate on me too. He exhibited the same type of hyperbole during Katrina . . . at times it appears that he may have forgotten to take his Ritalin.
rplat on July 21, 2006 at 9:11 PM
Well, to give smith his due, he does work for a CENTRIST news organization. While that is VASTLY better than an ultra-libtard news organization like the treason times, it’s still not always going to be palatable to staunch conservatives.
On the other hand, I do agree that 5 soldiers is pretty minor casualties. Good night 3000 soldiers is pretty minor compared to the millions we’ve lost between Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korea, etc…
RH
RobertHuntingdon on July 21, 2006 at 9:59 PM
Yes, I suppose Smith is still better than the alternatives.
rplat on July 21, 2006 at 11:17 PM
The only “mass” is the tumor in the collective brain of the MSM.
speed647 on July 22, 2006 at 3:54 AM
Modern media has no concept of what warfare is…one loss equates a major defeat. Part of their education should include classes in history. The IDF is smart in not talking too much about their ops.
jcon96 on July 23, 2006 at 10:57 AM