"Lebanon Lite": Lessons from the Operation in Gaza and the Next Round against Hizbollah

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 successfully fought in crowded urban areas saturated with enemy combatants. The civilian routine was affected in the south of the country, but local governments continued to function. Cooperation between the southern local governments and the army was far better than the situation in northern Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War.