Strategic Assessment

While the list of lapses in the second Lebanon War is long, the root cause of the failure on the battlefield stems from the deterioration in the Israeli approach to the buildup and use of military force. This deterioration has resulted partly inadvertently and partly from staunch adherence to preexisting concepts. Reviewing the deterioration in the approach to force buildup and the use of force, this article will examine the changes in buildup and the approach to force application during the period that preceded the war, and will look at the operational concepts adopted for the war that emerged from these changes. It will examine the inadequate results of force application during the war, discuss the alternative strategies for the use of force (if at all) available to Israel after the kidnapping of its two soldiers on July 12, 2006, and look at possible future directions.