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After Years of Air Campaigns, IDF Weighs Pinpoint Use of Ground Forces

(Times of Israel) Lazar Berman - In 2013, IDF Brig.-Gen. Tamir Yadai and Lt.-Col. Eran Ortal wrote in an official IDF journal warning that Israel's military was following a predictable and worrying pattern of recurring "deterrence operations" in Gaza based on stand-off firepower. This month's five-day Operation Shield and Arrow ended with zero hopes that it would be the last round. Now, recognition is growing that reactive measures are insufficient to confront the contemporary challenges of rocket-based terror armies. The new concept recognizes the need for decisive victory through ground maneuver in Gaza or Lebanon by highly trained, active duty units to suppress rocket fire on Israel's home front. Yadai and Ortal, both now generals, wrote in October 2022, "We are more focused on the bank of targets [for the air force] than we are on the question of victory itself. In order to confront the new challenge, we must wean ourselves off the habits we have become used to for more than three decades."
2023-05-18 00:00:00
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