The Israelis seem to be changing their military strategy from one of bombardment to one focused on victory. What does that mean for Hezbollah?
A revolution in military doctrine, which is now focused once again on winning—not by immobilizing the enemy’s war-fighting capacity as in the past, but by systematic, precise, and complete (or almost complete) destruction of its resources and terrorists.
I've long thought I've seen the Israelis reinvigorating their ground forces after the failure in 2006 of bombardment as the primary strategy to defeat Hezbollah.
Does this mean Israel is prepared to really hammer Hezbollah around a primary ground effort to tear up the terrorist organization that Iran props up?
I assume that any war will be a multi-division push north of the Litani that will take advantage of the fact that Hezbollah, after 2006, wrongly believes it can go toe-to-toe with Israeli troops and so will fight as light infantry rather than as insurgents. For a while, Israel will be able to really pound Hizbollah ground forces as the Israelis take over rocket-launch sites and armories with troops.
Further, I'd guess the Israelis will push rapidly into the Bekaa Valley as far as Baalbek to tear up Hezbollah's rear area to slow down rearmament after the war is over. Air strikes would take place north of that, if necessary, I'd guess.
I see it as a large-scale ground raid rather than a conquest. It might take several months of temporary occupation to really dig out the infrastructure, eliminate the rocket-launching facilities, hunt scattered enemy leadership, and cart off intelligence. But the Israelis would retire to the border when it is over.
Still, despite my longstanding view, I now wonder how wide the front would be.
