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The IDF's "War between Wars" Prevents the Next War

(Ynet News) Brig.-Gen. Yitzhak Turgeman interviewed by Yossi Yehoshua - Brig.-Gen. Yitzhak Turgeman, head of the IDF Operations Division, was a division commander in the 2014 Gaza war. He says that in Gaza "today we are dealing with a very complex constructed area, with a population that cannot be evacuated anywhere, and with a huge underground space." He is certain Hamas has been deterred since then. "Salafists...fire [rockets and mortars] to make us target Hamas....Following every local incident Hamas goes out and acts against the rebels. Hamas understands that Israel will act aggressively." Turgeman's great concern is the moment Hamas internalizes the meaning of the new underground obstacle being built on the Gaza border. "They're surprised by the scope. At first, we built opposite the communities. We wanted to [first] close the areas opposite the communities. Now...they're beginning to realize that this is going to shut off the entire strip." "Hamas has realized that we have the Iron Dome [anti-missile] system, and I think that as soon as we harm its tunneling project, it will be much more deterred....The political echelon's instruction was: 'We want the obstacle to be completed by 2019.'" On the northern front opposite Hizbullah, "Israel has unique intelligence capabilities, which give us a major advantage....We want to attack infrastructures like launching pads and warehouses, which will prevent Hizbullah from hitting our home front....Today we're talking about thousands of targets compared to 277 in the Second Lebanon War in 2006." "The complexity in the Second Lebanon War was to act against an independent, decentralized terror organization." Today, Hizbullah "is starting to resemble an army, and that's where its weakness lies....When you're dealing with a [larger formation], the ability to hit is much more effective." Turgeman is the manager of "the war between wars" - the operations aimed at preventing Hamas and Hizbullah from arming themselves. "At the end of the day, the 'war between wars' prevents the next battle. We work to prevent abilities that we don't want our enemies to have." "Iran is investing hundreds of millions in funds and in war materials in Syria and in Lebanon....It supports our entire first circle of enemies - Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah and Syria. Iran is doing everything in its power to strengthen its presence in Syria...[including a] base, with planes that are deployed there. We'll do everything to prevent this from happening." "We do everything in our power to clarify things and to avoid creating friction with the Russians in the 'war between wars.'...Moreover, we have an intelligence advantage, and when we detected a concrete warning of an attack against Russian forces, we informed them about it and prevented the attack. They were very grateful."
2017-10-18 00:00:00
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