The Second Lebanon War is anchored in Israel’s collective memory as a military failure. The media played a significant role in this war, and there were those who claimed that the media had a large part in painting the war as a failure. Over time, political-security discourse has come to understand that the ten years of quiet on the northern border indicate more favorable outcomes of the war than the impressions formed in August 2006. Accordingly, it is important to assess the role of the media in shaping the discourse on the war over...
The nature of IDF combat in the security zone in southern Lebanon imposed many restraints on the regular army’s ground forces and their ability to operate in a way reflecting the IDF’s traditional doctrine of combined ground warfare. The reasons for these limitations are beyond the scope of this article; suffice it to mention the anachronistic activity in the security zone and the trouble the IDF encountered in executing attacks on short notice and with rushed battle procedures. The retreat from southern Lebanon and the war on...
The outbreak of war in July 2006 was as surprising for the United States as it was for Israel. In addition to the significance for Israel, the results were important for the Bush administration, as they changed the American view of the Israeli-Palestinian situation and destroyed the relationship between Prime Minister Olmert and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
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...
Israel did not intend to start a war in the Lebanese theater, nor did Hezbollah plan one. Essentially, the Second Lebanon War was a result of the ongoing erosion in Israel’s deterrence, which motivated Hezbollah to carry out a provocative kidnapping operation, under the erroneous assumption that it would not necessarily lead to escalation. The Second Lebanon War lasted 34 days, and its results were far reaching. Even though the way it was conducted drew strong criticism from the Israeli public and the Winograd Commission Report, it...
The Second Lebanon War broke out on July 12, 2006, without either Israel or Hezbollah intending this escalation. However, the abduction of IDF soldiers that day by a Hezbollah cell created a new reality in the north that prompted Israel to embark on a military operation, which ultimately became a war. The course of the war and its outcomes strongly affected subsequent internal and external Israeli, Lebanese, and regional processes.
Hindsight provides an opportunity to examine the war and its ramifications from a broader and more...
The Second Lebanon War broke out on July 12, 2006, without either Israel or Hezbollah intending this escalation. However, the abduction of IDF soldiers that day by a Hezbollah cell created a new reality in the north that prompted Israel to embark on a military operation, which ultimately became a war. The course of the war and its outcomes strongly affected subsequent internal and external Israeli, Lebanese, and regional processes. Hindsight provides an opportunity to examine the war and its ramifications from a broader and more...
The current race for control of territory in Syria now appears to be a competition between Iran and the United States, which have established two respective axes – with a vertical American (north-south) effort on the one hand, and a horizontal Iranian (east-west) effort on the other hand. In practice, this is another stage in the shaping of Syria in preparation for the day after the Islamic State. In the meantime, the country’s southwestern region, from Daraa to the Golan Heights, remains open for activity and influence by Israel and...
The “Memorandum to Create De-escalation Zones in Syria,” signed in Astana, Kazakhstan on May 5, 2017 by Russia, Iran, and Turkey as guarantors of implementation, is the fourth attempt within just over a year to bring about a sustainable ceasefire in Syria. New this time is the establishment of four de-escalation zones in Syrian territory. The agreement is thus an attempt to shape the future in Syria, including areas where Israel and Jordan have very clear interests, yet thus far without consideration of these interests. As...
Statements about Hezbollah by Lebanese President Michel Aoun in a recent interview in Cairo are a formal confirmation by Lebanon’s official government of Hezbollah’s recognized status, and represent a public and political achievement for the organization. Yet at the same time, these statements involve costs and negative consequences for the organization and for Lebanon as a state. For Israel, the declaration is the official unveiling of a known Lebanese reality that diplomatic conventions in the West have long tended to...
The essays in Strategic Survey for Israel 2016-2017, the latest volume in the series published annually by the Institute for National Security Studies, were written and compiled during a period of upheaval and instability in Israel’s strategic environment. In many respects, this upheaval continues the trends that have marked the Middle East and much of the international arena in previous years, especially since the so-called “Arab Spring” swept through the region. Accordingly, many of the events that occurred in the region during the...
The essay focuses on cognitive warfare and analyzes the changes that have occurred in the map of threats in recent years. In addition to kinetic weapons, the effect of the cognitive warfare waged by states and non-state organizations on the internet and the social networks has come to the fore in recent years. The author therefore recommends that the IDF invest carefully in force buildup and develop a range of capabilities in the cognitive arena on the internet and other communications media, together with a buildup of kinetic...
