Wizdom
21-07-06, 15:23
Hardened Hizbollah ready for Israel invasion
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hizbollah ambushes that have killed six Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon suggest the army, which appears poised for a massive ground invasion, will face a bloody fight driving the militia back from the frontier.
The guerrillas have spent much of the time since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 following 22 years of occupation preparing for battle. Its fighters and arsenal are well dispersed in the region's mountainous terrain, experts said.
"We are talking about hundreds of guerrillas, all of them well-trained, intensely motivated, and fighting autonomous of Hizbollah's high command," said Alon Ben-David, Israel analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly.
"They are deployed in a Viet Cong-style network of trenches and tunnels, which allow them to emerge for quick Katyusha (rocket) or gun attacks and take cover again."
The army confirmed on Friday that four soldiers were killed and several wounded in fierce clashes with Hizbollah on Thursday. Fighting took place in the village of Maroun al-Ras, near where two soldiers were killed on Wednesday.
Israel's army has said it killed four Hizbollah fighters.
Despite the casualties, signs of a ground invasion are getting stronger with Israel's offensive in its second week.
Israel warned residents to leave southern Lebanon on Friday while the army ordered thousands of reserves to report for duty.
Israel launched the campaign after Hizbollah abducted two Israel soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid.
One Israeli political source said the casualties this week would concern the army but were unlikely to dent its determination to dislodge the guerrillas. Israel wants to drive Hizbollah out of southern Lebanon to end rocket attacks.
BIG CONCERNS
What has raised concern in Israel is that the forces already taking casualties while conducting small-scale ground attacks in southern Lebanon to destroy Hizbollah bunkers are highly trained elite units.
And despite more than a week of heavy artillery barrages and air strikes, Hizbollah rockets keep hitting northern Israel, though the number of missiles has dropped off.
The Maariv newspaper quoted senior military sources as saying Hizbollah's forces in southern Lebanon had not been harmed significantly by the operations.
The guerrillas in the south are battle hardened, having largely forced Israel out of the country after a long conflict that cost the lives of 1,000 soldiers and thousands of Lebanese.
Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon due to mounting criticism at home at the casualty toll and international pressure over its occupation.
Hizbollah has shown the potency of its arsenal, hitting the northern city of Haifa for the first time with Iranian-made missiles and striking an Israeli naval ship, also with an Iranian-made missile.
Their capability is more than we thought it was," said Timur Goksel, former spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.
"They come together for operations then they disperse. They keep their weapons in homes, caves, they disperse them."
FINISH THE JOB
A poll published on Friday showed 90 percent of Israelis wanted the operations to continue until Hizbollah was forced out of southern Lebanon.
Israel has killed at least 343 people in Lebanon. Thirty-four Israeli troops and civilians have been killed.
Ben-David said Israel's special forces were at a tactical disadvantage in that Hizbollah was waiting to ambush them.
Military sources say troops are operating up to 2 km (miles) inside southern Lebanon.
"It is also possible that these commandos are used to taking on the less formidable Palestinian terrorists and have underestimated the capabilities of Hizbollah," he said.
Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday dismissed Israeli claims of the destruction of half of the group's fighting capability. Lebanese political sources say the group's military and command structures are untouched.
If Israel were to inflict heavy casualties on its fighters, Hizbollah would easily find replacements, some experts said.
"It's a grassroots social movement firmly embedded in the Shi'ite community," said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, author of 'Hizbollah: Politics and Religion'.
"Practically every family in the south houses a Hizbollah fighter. How on earth can Israel achieve its goal of neutralizing the leadership and movement without committing a genocide."
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Tom Perry in Beirut)
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Hizbollah ambushes that have killed six Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon suggest the army, which appears poised for a massive ground invasion, will face a bloody fight driving the militia back from the frontier.
The guerrillas have spent much of the time since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 following 22 years of occupation preparing for battle. Its fighters and arsenal are well dispersed in the region's mountainous terrain, experts said.
"We are talking about hundreds of guerrillas, all of them well-trained, intensely motivated, and fighting autonomous of Hizbollah's high command," said Alon Ben-David, Israel analyst for Jane's Defense Weekly.
"They are deployed in a Viet Cong-style network of trenches and tunnels, which allow them to emerge for quick Katyusha (rocket) or gun attacks and take cover again."
The army confirmed on Friday that four soldiers were killed and several wounded in fierce clashes with Hizbollah on Thursday. Fighting took place in the village of Maroun al-Ras, near where two soldiers were killed on Wednesday.
Israel's army has said it killed four Hizbollah fighters.
Despite the casualties, signs of a ground invasion are getting stronger with Israel's offensive in its second week.
Israel warned residents to leave southern Lebanon on Friday while the army ordered thousands of reserves to report for duty.
Israel launched the campaign after Hizbollah abducted two Israel soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid.
One Israeli political source said the casualties this week would concern the army but were unlikely to dent its determination to dislodge the guerrillas. Israel wants to drive Hizbollah out of southern Lebanon to end rocket attacks.
BIG CONCERNS
What has raised concern in Israel is that the forces already taking casualties while conducting small-scale ground attacks in southern Lebanon to destroy Hizbollah bunkers are highly trained elite units.
And despite more than a week of heavy artillery barrages and air strikes, Hizbollah rockets keep hitting northern Israel, though the number of missiles has dropped off.
The Maariv newspaper quoted senior military sources as saying Hizbollah's forces in southern Lebanon had not been harmed significantly by the operations.
The guerrillas in the south are battle hardened, having largely forced Israel out of the country after a long conflict that cost the lives of 1,000 soldiers and thousands of Lebanese.
Israel pulled out of southern Lebanon due to mounting criticism at home at the casualty toll and international pressure over its occupation.
Hizbollah has shown the potency of its arsenal, hitting the northern city of Haifa for the first time with Iranian-made missiles and striking an Israeli naval ship, also with an Iranian-made missile.
Their capability is more than we thought it was," said Timur Goksel, former spokesman for U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon.
"They come together for operations then they disperse. They keep their weapons in homes, caves, they disperse them."
FINISH THE JOB
A poll published on Friday showed 90 percent of Israelis wanted the operations to continue until Hizbollah was forced out of southern Lebanon.
Israel has killed at least 343 people in Lebanon. Thirty-four Israeli troops and civilians have been killed.
Ben-David said Israel's special forces were at a tactical disadvantage in that Hizbollah was waiting to ambush them.
Military sources say troops are operating up to 2 km (miles) inside southern Lebanon.
"It is also possible that these commandos are used to taking on the less formidable Palestinian terrorists and have underestimated the capabilities of Hizbollah," he said.
Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday dismissed Israeli claims of the destruction of half of the group's fighting capability. Lebanese political sources say the group's military and command structures are untouched.
If Israel were to inflict heavy casualties on its fighters, Hizbollah would easily find replacements, some experts said.
"It's a grassroots social movement firmly embedded in the Shi'ite community," said Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, author of 'Hizbollah: Politics and Religion'.
"Practically every family in the south houses a Hizbollah fighter. How on earth can Israel achieve its goal of neutralizing the leadership and movement without committing a genocide."
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Tom Perry in Beirut)