STEVE EMERSON, PAUL ALSTER
July 18, 2013
Solid intelligence told the Israeli army that a Hizballah unit
was in a house in a small south Lebanese village. Infantry soldiers from
the Nahal Brigade were dispatched to eliminate the Iranian-armed
terrorists.
Under clear, mid-summer night skies, the platoon closed in on the
village. They moved stealthily across rugged terrain, down steep
ravines, through the rocky scrubland then through heavily wooded brush.
They had already been moving on foot for a number of hours in full
battle dress, carrying their weapons and other equipment. They were hot,
sweating heavily, dusty. If they felt tired, the adrenalin of such a
dangerous situation kept them alert and ready.
Cries of 'Allah Hu Akbar' bellowed amid automatic gunfire as soon as
they broke cover and moved on a targeted house. A hand grenade was
thrown from the upstairs window. A colleague swiftly dragged a wounded
soldier backwards behind the cover of a boulder, out of sight of the
Hizballah fighters.
The Israelis burst into the house, checking for booby-trapped
pressure pads at the doorways, then rushed the defenders. A short, but
vicious fire-fight was over in less than two minutes. The outcome: two
Hizballah terrorists dead, two Israeli soldiers injured (one severely).
The target was made safe.
Fortunately, this was a training drill, set in a scenario of renewed
conflict with Hizballah in southern Lebanon. Israeli officials granted
the Investigative Project on Terrorism access to observe it.
The young troops of the Nahal Brigade have been training for seven
months. The village is a mock-up created by the IDF at the Elyakim base
in the Carmel hills in northern Israel, a terrain similar to that found
in southern Lebanon. It gives soldiers vital experience with the
potential dangers they might face in a future conflict.
As many as 100,000 missiles have reportedly found their way into the
hands of Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's Iranian-backed Hizballah since Israel
unilaterally withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000. That arsenal might
at any time spark a new conflict. The rapidly deteriorating situation
in neighboring Syria has attracted elements of al-Qaida and a raft of
radical Islamist groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian
Army move into the area. They could pose an additional threat to the
Jewish state.
The exercise showed the many challenges Israeli troops face during
urban warfare. For example, reaching the target took longer than
expected, and the unit lost the cover of darkness. The delay meant the
raid came after the first call to prayer rang out across the valley,
raising the possibility of civilians being in the line of fire. Even
more care would have to be taken to avoid civilian casualties,
regardless of whether Hizballah had imposed itself on the people of the
village or were welcome guests.
Lt. Archi Leonard Cohen, deputy commander of the Nahal Guerilla
Warfare Brigade, spelled out the objective of this particular exercise.
"The brush leads all the way to the village. The main street is often
the most problematic section because it is often booby trapped. Then
there is the casbah, normally at the center of the village. The soldiers
are doing a three-hour hike before attacking the building. They will
come through the brush then they'll cross the street and capture the
building."
The platoon commander, Captain Sarel Sabag, joined us. I asked if the
chaos in Syria meant that these training exercises carried more
significance.
"You don't know where you might have to intervene," Sabag explained.
"Lebanon? Syria? Now with the events in Egypt, who knows? These soldiers
have only just moved on from basic training. This is one of their first
exercises. In a few months they will be doing more complicated training
exercises."
"There is the issue that Hizballah place themselves amongst the
[civilian] populations - in the mosques, in the schools. It's
complicated," Sabag continued. "We try not to enter holy places, but we
understand that Hizballah often use mosques, schools, and even
kindergartens. If they are firing on us from inside the mosque for
example, a school, or even a private house, we have to respond."
Fighting amid human shields is especially challenging. Civilian
casualties prompt massive media criticism against the IDF without
recognition that Hizballah, Hamas, and other Islamist terror groups,
regularly place civilians in harms' way.
"There are civilians that support Hizballah and those that don't, but
I believe that most residents don't want to get involved," Sabag said.
"They just want peace and quiet. Human shields are the most complicated
thing. If it was an open area and it was us against them [Hizballah], it
would be fairly straight forward. But when they use human shields every
soldier knows that any house could explode, any car could potentially
explode."
"We train a lot these days about ethics, the value of life, things we
didn't talk about years ago. Now it's much more of an issue," he said.
"All the officer courses focus on this. You have to get to the
Hizballah, but it's not at all costs. The [classic] training says that
every building you go in you should throw a grenade first of all. Why be
the first one in? But if we suspect there might be civilians inside we
prefer not to throw grenades in. We first go in without even firing,
trying to clear it out to avoid harming civilians."
That holds true even though it has cost Israeli soldiers their lives.
"I don't think the world appreciates the steps the Israeli army takes
to minimise civilian casualties," Cohen said. "But understand that we
don't do it to satisfy world opinion. Many Israeli men have been in the
army and been in combat. They have families and children, and I think
for their own conscience it gives them more strength knowing that the
army they fight for is a moral army."
Recent reports suggest a new range of high specification weapons
reaching the hands of both Hizballah and elements of the Free Syrian
Army, including sniper rifles with a range of up to one mile.
"We always train for facing snipers" Cohen said. "When we move
somewhere on foot we do so in the safest way we can, but it is part of
the risks we take. Here, [in this training scenario] the distance
doesn't give them such an advantage. For this we have a different way of
fighting. Hand-to-hand combat is very rare, but we learn Krav Maga
[Israeli military martial arts] to build self-confidence, although we
don't expect to have to use this technique in combat situations. We are
very well equipped and our soldiers have the Micro Tavor [assault
rifle]. The tactics we use in the brush are obviously different to an
open area."
Walking through the mock-up village, it is striking is how narrow the
streets are and the number of blind corners around which your enemy
might be ready to pounce at any moment.
"In this training village we have a small casbah" Cohen pointed out.
"All the time we aim at giving each other cover. We know that when we
are on the move covering fire is less effective than static cover fire.
When we fight in the main street we use tanks to fight with us."
Hizballah and other terror groups are always quick to portray the
civilian deaths as Israeli blood-lust, and there are plenty with set
agendas in the international media prepared to accept this view without
question. Errors will always be made in the heat of battle, but Cohen
robustly defended the training given to Israel's military with regard to
civilian casualties.
Much has been written about the tunnels in Gaza where goods and
weapons are smuggled into the Islamist enclave, but Cohen confirmed that
Hizballah also has a huge amount of tunnels leading from village
houses, mosques, and other buildings, and often leading outside the
village. Hizballah fighters try to use these tunnels to emerge behind
their attackers. The tunnels are often built with cement reinforcements
sometimes two meters high, allowing the terrorists to dash back and
forth, emerging from unexpected angles, and often giving the impression
there are more of them than is actually the case. Even the tunnels have
been recreated in the mock village.
"The tunnel openings inside houses are not normally covered even with
a carpet. They are in clear sight so they can be used at a moment's
notice without anything slowing them down," Cohen said. "If they fire
rockets at us and we identify where they are specifically firing from,
that building will be targeted, but not the one next door."
Even if the house from which Hizballah has fired is destroyed by a
retaliatory Israeli missile strike, the tunnels often provide the
terrorists a quick means of escape.
Shia Muslim Hizballah fighters are currently embroiled in vicious
fighting against the Sunnis in Syria. It seems unlikely in the current
circumstances that they will seek another front and take on the might of
the Israeli army, but no one in Israel takes anything for granted.
With so much of the Arab world now in turmoil, Israel remains ready
to defend itself against terror attacks from Lebanese, Syrian, Gazan, or
even Egyptian soil, the moment the wind changes - and that can be in an
instant.
Paul Alster is an Israel-based journalist with a special interest
in Israeli/Palestinian relations and Middle East politics. He is a
regular contributor to FoxNews.com and the Times of Israel, and blogs at
www.paulalster.com
Read more:
Family Security Matters http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/inside-israels-preparation-for-the-next-hizballah-conflict?f=must_reads#ixzz2ZPTJ70W7
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