In recent years the phenomenon of war has been commonly divided into symmetrical warfare and asymmetrical warfare. Notwithstanding new semantics, however, there is nothing new about this division, which represents the two principal interrelated components of war and therefore demands ongoing professional study. Confrontations between countries are liable to develop into symmetrical conventional wars, and at the same time or in their wake, a confrontation with asymmetrical properties can ensue. The transition from fighting a...
For most of its sixty years, the State of Israel has faced an ongoing confrontation generated by guerilla/terrorist movements. After World War II, it became customary to call this phenomenon a war of revolution or insurgency, connoting confrontation launched by politicalrevolutionary movements whose goal is to attain governance through violent means and the politicization of the local population. This is not guerilla or terrorist warfare in the classical sense, rather a war that in the beginning uses guerilla tactics (rural or urban)...
Every state defines its basic self interests and what in its mind constitutes existential threats. On the basis of these definitions, the state formulates the relevant responses, whether military, diplomatic, economic, or other, to events and developments. For years, the Israeli military response relied on three basic principles: deterrence, warning, and decision. The three principles implied that Israel must deter the Arab states from starting wars. Should deterrence fail, then Israel’s intelligence must supply a timely...
A series of factors, including the situation in Yemen, the return of Afghan “alumni” (the current generation), Iraqi “alumni,” and former Guatanamo inmates may test the relative effectiveness demonstrated by the security forces in the Arabian Peninsula in recent years in their struggle against terror. This is particularly relevant in light of what appears to be renewed attempts by terror organizations to strike at senior figures and strategic facilities. Recent attempted terror attacks follow a series of...
At the height of the Lebanese parliamentary elections campaign, Hassan Nasrallah addressed a conference in the Beqaa Valley. In an impassioned speech, he sought to enlist support for Hizbollah’s candidates by referring to the Israeli enemy.
In August 2009, Rawi Sultani, a young Arab resident of Taibe, was arrested on suspicion of having spied for Hizbollah. According to the indictment, Sultani contacted a Hizbollah agent last year while at a summer camp for nationalist Arab youth in Morocco as a member of the delegation of the Balad party. Sultani told his Hizbollah contact that he works out at the same gym as IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. The ensuing contact between Sultani and Hizbollah handlers, which lasted about a year, included a meeting in Poland and...
The violent clash in Gaza in mid-August at the Ibn Tamiyya mosque in Rafah between Hamas members and a group of al-Qaeda supporters from the Jund Ansar Allah organization, which led to the deaths of more than 20 Palestinians and the wounding of several dozen, has again demonstrated the violence, domination, and mercilessness Hamas exhibits towards its political rivals. At the same time, a volatile power struggle in the Gaza Strip was on full display, first and foremost, a struggle over Hamas’ control of the Gaza Strip...
Over the past weeks, the US has accelerated efforts to confront the danger to world peace and its own security arising from the security situation in Pakistan. In a statement to Congress, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was quoted as saying that the ongoing deterioration in the internal security situation of the nuclear Islamic country and the possibility that its government would fall into the hands of extreme Islamic elements constituted a danger to the US and world peace. Secretary Clinton’s remarks implied criticism of...
In the late 20th century and the early 21st century, two seminal events occurred relating to the likelihood of a natural outbreak of a new deadly global pandemic with large numbers of victims on the one hand, and the possibility of a biological terrorist event with similar results on the other. The first event was an avian influenza virus that appeared in a many countries around the world and resulted in the death of much poultry. The second event was the wave of anthrax envelopes in the US shortly after the September 11 terrorist...
The direct target of the Egyptian regime’s attacks in the past two weeks is Hizbollah and its terror arm in Egypt. However, the Egyptians themselves do not conceal the fact that in their view Hizbollah is merely the tool, and that their main concern is the driving force behind the organization – Iran.
Hizbollah and Hamas are guerilla and terrorist organizations that in less than 20 years have developed into quasi-governmental entities. They have done so in a relatively smaller area than is usually the case in guerilla warfare, and in the case of the Gaza Strip, primarily in urban areas suited to this type of fighting. Militarily, Hizbollah is a big brother of Hamas: Hizbollah is more experienced, knowledgeable, and selfassured. Nonetheless, Hizbollah is learning from Hamas’ conduct during Operation Cast Lead and is...
Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in the Gaza Strip filled both the IDF and the Israeli public with a sense of success, and justifiably so – at least militarily speaking. In the course of the fighting, Israel managed to greatly reduce the rocket fire at the Israeli home front, with relatively little loss of life and property; the air force managed to render severe blows to the Hamas infrastructure in the Gaza Strip and eliminate senior operatives in the military and political wing of the organization; and the ground forces...
