Hamas is a terrorist army. That is, it combines a military organization with a terrorist purpose. Accordingly, even when the military organization is defeated, the terrorist purpose remains and must be addressed. The challenge is that it has no capital, no center of gravity. The motive of terrorism is found in people’s hearts, and in a violent radical ideology.
Terrorism is defeated by denying its purpose, that is, by illustrating the futility of the organization and its inability to terrorize citizens to achieve a political goal. But this is not enough – the capabilities of the terrorist organization must also be denied by their systematic destruction, and this takes a long time. This is not “military decision” in the classical sense of exerting maximum force in a minimal amount of time toward a center of gravity. Rather, it is a systematic reduction of terrorists, financing methods, laboratories and arsenals, and so on.
And hence three insights concerning the war:
- The difference between the different phases of the campaign: Phase B is the military dismantling phase; Phase C will be the defeat of terrorism.
- The operational significance: since terrorism has no center of gravity, it will take a long time, and it will continue to unfold all over the Gaza Strip.
- Fighting against terrorism will continue even from areas where the military structure of Hamas was defeated. Gaza City is not free from terrorism (just as Jenin and Nablus are not free, either). We will have to continue to operate there.
Hamas is a terrorist army. That is, it combines a military organization with a terrorist purpose. Accordingly, even when the military organization is defeated, the terrorist purpose remains and must be addressed. The challenge is that it has no capital, no center of gravity. The motive of terrorism is found in people’s hearts, and in a violent radical ideology.
Terrorism is defeated by denying its purpose, that is, by illustrating the futility of the organization and its inability to terrorize citizens to achieve a political goal. But this is not enough – the capabilities of the terrorist organization must also be denied by their systematic destruction, and this takes a long time. This is not “military decision” in the classical sense of exerting maximum force in a minimal amount of time toward a center of gravity. Rather, it is a systematic reduction of terrorists, financing methods, laboratories and arsenals, and so on.
And hence three insights concerning the war: