Publications

Despite Israel’s problematic decisions and flaws in preparedness and use of force in the Second Lebanon War, the realization of the gaps in force between Israel and Hezbollah left the Lebanese organization badly bruised and forced it to change its modus operandi and strategic conduct vis-à-vis Israel. In the years after the war, Hezbollah was drawn into the Syrian civil war, leaving Israel’s northern border calm for the decade that followed. The most important lesson is not to embark on a military campaign to fix the outcomes and image of the previous one. It is necessary to examine every military campaign in light of its own particular and changing strategic context, and to steer the use of force according to the strategic goals set by the Israeli government. One must not allow the sour sense of regret of nonrealization of the potential for rendering a more severe blow to Hezbollah in the Second Lebanon War to affect the strategic objective of the next military campaign against the organization. In the current strategic situation, it is highly probable that such a campaign is unnecessary.