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Learning from Hizbullah

[Middle East Strategy at Harvard University] Andrew Exum - Unlike most other Arab armies since 1948, Hizbullah demonstrates a high proficiency in the maintenance and employment of its weapons systems, it performs well in small-unit light infantry operations, and it uses a decentralized command structure that allows its subordinate leaders to exercise a high degree of initiative on the battlefield. The Shia who make up Hizbullah's constituency think giving up their arms means a return to the days when the concerns of the Shia living in the south, the Bekaa Valley, and the suburbs of Beirut were largely forgotten by the central government. Furthermore, many of the young men who joined Hizbullah were lured by the promise of fighting Israel. Hizbullah must worry that if they were to abandon their military campaign against Israel, these young men would simply split off in the same way that so many of the Amal militia's gunmen left for Hizbullah in the early 1980s. In order to keep these young men under arms, it is necessary to continue some form of armed conflict against Israel.
2007-12-28 01:00:00
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