Daily Alert Archives

Can Israel Handle a War on Two Fronts?

(Foreign Policy) Maj.-Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman interviewed by Amy Mackinnon - Maj.-Gen. (res.) Tamir Hayman, former head of IDF Military Intelligence, is Managing Director of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University. To Israel's north, "Hizbullah is not actively, full-scale involved, but actively, below the threshold of war, trying to create distraction in order to relieve tensions over Gaza, using drones, exploiting the Hamas capabilities and the Palestinian capabilities to launch mortar attacks on the Iron Dome [missile defense system]." "We have deployed all of our forces in order to be more prepared for, God forbid, another attack by special operatives from Hizbullah. We are fully ready for that kind of a scenario....In my opinion, we should secure the flank, but the main operational effort should be concentrated on Gaza." Q: How do you take down Hamas without a horrific civilian toll? Hayman: "We are trying to evacuate the massive, uninvolved civilian [population] from all of northern Gaza, and later on we can strike. We know where they are. We can strike with air power; we can maneuver to them; we can root out those major capabilities." "We can prioritize what are the special capabilities we want to root out; for example, special operation capabilities, the aerial unit, the naval unit, the rocket unit - all of those elements that can target, and did target, Israeli civilians....The first element is crushing the military capabilities. The second element is removing Hamas." Q: Do you think Hizbullah has the appetite to open a second front in the north? Hayman: "I'm not sure that they have the appetite, but the opportunity may give them the appetite. If they see weakness, they see opportunity. Probably, Hizbullah thinks that they cannot sacrifice themselves for the Palestinians because their whole reason for existence is Iran, not Gaza." Q: Is the IDF ready and equipped to handle a two-front war? Hayman: "Yes, we can handle more than one front. We can handle even three fronts. But the military decision, victory, will not be simultaneous, but that's no problem. We can finish one and move to another; we have enough capabilities that can do that."
2023-10-18 00:00:00
Full Article