It’s not just that Hezbollah has re-armed, it’s influence is being seen in Israel’s south too.
Hamas is apparently beefing up its border defense (and probably offensive capabilities too) in a manner reminiscent of its allies in the north of Israel.
Hamas has organized along the lines of a conventional army, with companies and battalions assigned to defense of specific sectors, a fixed chain of command and teams attempting to stage ambushes of Israeli forces as they enter and leave the strip.In the months after Hamas’ capture last year of an Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, Israeli forces made dozens of aggressive forays into Gaza, killing hundreds of Palestinian fighters without counting a single loss to enemy fire.
. . .
“They are building an army,” said Gen. Moshe Tamir, commander of the Israeli division assigned to Gaza, “and are trying to build bunkers and mortar positions along the border. We are constantly modifying our tactics and they are watching what we do.” He said more than 200 militants have been killed since the beginning of the year.
Given the building of the bunkers, Israel’s arms request to the United States makes a lot of sense.
The agency’s notification to Congress included a laundry list of missiles and munitions. Among them were: 2,000 Radio Frequency TOW anti-armor missiles, 1,500 114M3 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles, 200 114L3 Hellfire II Longbow missiles, 100 Patriot guidance-enhanced missiles and 5,000 M141 83 mm bunker-defeat munitions.
(Emphasis mine)While the arms request makes sense as a reaction to Hamas, what doesn’t make sense is why Israel waited for the situation to reach this level. Has the false promise of diplomacy prevented Israel from acting militarily in an effective (and pre-emptive) manner?
Crossposted on Soccer Dad.
“2,000 Radio Frequency TOW anti-armor missiles, 1,500 114M3 Hellfire II air-to-ground missiles, 200 114L3 Hellfire II Longbow missiles, 100 Patriot guidance-enhanced missiles and 5,000 M141 83 mm bunker-defeat munitions”
I would triple the order and make an object lesson for Hezbollah by using the new Hamas fortifications for target practice until they no longer existed.
WTF is the IDF waiting for???
What is the IDF waiting for? It’s waiting for the government to make a decision.
What’s taking the government so long? The false promise of diplomacy is preventing Israel from acting militarily in an effective (and pre-emptive) manner.
As long as the world, the US, the government of Israel continue to assume that negotiations might lead to peace, they will continue to force negotiations.
Until the other side decides to get its act together, it couldn’t deliver peace if it wanted to, so …
To quote Senator Zell Miller following 9/11, “I say, bomb the hell out of them. If there’s collateral damage, so be it. They certainly found our civilians to be expendable.”
They’re under the illusion that if the wait for Hamas to become a real military (with uniforms and everything), then they’ll be able to formally declare war and get world approval.
They forget, of course, that world approval has nothing to do with following the forms of so-called “international law.” There is nothing you can do to make someone love you, even when that someone gives you a list of rules to follow.