Israel attacks Gaza Strip

Bringing the discussion back on land, the latest news is that Israel is declaring there are around 100 Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops in Lebanon. Hezbollah is continuing its rocket barrage, targeting the toursit-city of Tiberias, previously thought out of Hezbollah's range.

I think that Iran is behind this, and they are trying to tell Israel and the US that they can use Hezbollah, Hamas and other terrorist groups to hurt the West by proxy if the US strikes at its nuclear plants. Also, Syria and Iran want to try to counter the threat they feel from the US invasion of Iraq and the increasing international pressure they feel (Iran's nuclear situation, Syria being evicted from Lebanon.) Let's just hope that Syria and Iran don't feel that they have to "use or lose" their best assets, both in the conventional sense of weaponry and in the more abstract sense, like terrorist groups they "own".

The Question I want to ask is what exactly is the Lebanese Army doing?

Isreal's assault is not simply an attack on Hezbollah, it is targeting the key infrastructure of the state. If the Lebanese army do not show any meaningful response, the ill will this will generate internally will probably be great enough to re-ignite the Civil War.

If this is Isreals intention it should be oppossed vigorously, as the West spent a lot of money on the rebuilding program. If Isreal destroys or causes to be destroyed these Assets, they should most definitly be given the bill (and I don't mean just cutting the Federal Aid )

SampanViking said:

The Question I want to ask is what exactly is the Lebanese Army doing?

Isreal's assault is not simply an attack on Hezbollah, it is targeting the key infrastructure of the state. If the Lebanese army do not show any meaningful response, the ill will this will generate internally will probably be great enough to re-ignite the Civil War.

If this is Isreals intention it should be oppossed vigorously, as the West spent a lot of money on the rebuilding program. If Isreal destroys or causes to be destroyed these Assets, they should most definitly be given the bill (and I don't mean just cutting the Federal Aid )

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The Lebanese army isn't an effective fighting force. Hezbullah has more military equipment than those guys plus while Hezbullah is very disciplined and extremely well trained, the Lebanese army doesn't seem to have much to offer.

Hi Sanpan, If the lebanese army were to try and rid itself of Hizbullah you would see the Islamic faction of the Army fight against the Christan faction thus resulting in civil war. Also the army could not even hope to fight the Israeli military as it would be destroyed and would also result in civil war. The only thing that could be done is for the west to intervene and get rid of Hizbullah and the Iranian and Syrian issue that is causing the problems. But I think Israel is bound and determined to rid lebanon of Hizbullah on its own.

based on past historical performance of the two sides I don't think it can be fixed without the catastrophic elimination of one of the two sides. All we can do is set back and watch the military battles for analytical purposes while we drink honey wine and rejoice that we are not living there..... so raise a glass with me sanpan and toast to "better them than us"....cheers ute

Crazy , that is a big negative.....the lebanese army has 70,000 troops with hundreds of tanks and APC and Hizbullah has between 2,000 to 8,000 men with little heavy equipment with the exception of lots of Missiles. The real problem is the breakdown of the lebanese army and the fact that it would fragment if it fought hizbullah.

Leboanesse army breakdown
70,000 men with 11 mech inf bde, 1 pres guard bde and 5 SF reg
MBT=110 M-48 and 200 T-55
Recce=60 AML and 25 Saladin
APC= 1,164 M-113 , 81 VAB-VCI, 81 AMX-VCI
Arty=120 various 105mm to 155mm
ATGW 30 ENTAC, 16 Milan, 24 BGM-71A TOW

If Hizbullah has 802 anti ship missile then you can also bet your ass they have HJ-8 or Kornet ATGW. I would not be surprised if they have an array of other weapon systems not reported and maybe that is why there is hesitation on the part of Israel by not going into southern lebanon unless absolutely needed.

BREAKING NEWS....
there was just a report on CNN about 15min ago that a column of Israel tanks have crossed the border into lebanon. this appears to be a developing story with more explosions heard in beirut.

utelore said:

BREAKING NEWS....
there was just a report on CNN about 15min ago that a column of Israel tanks have crossed the border into lebanon. this appears to be a developing story with more explosions heard in beirut.

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Oh man, now the real showdown begins....

rumour time:

someone on DT just said that he heard from someone else Syrians tanks are moving into Israel. I have huge doubts about this...

tphuang said:

rumour time:

someone on DT just said that he heard from someone else Syrians tanks are moving into Israel. I have huge doubts about this...

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If true, then all <you know what> is about to break loose. I highly doubt such reports at this time. IDF air power is just too great and they have air dominance now. I believe any such move by Syrian armour would be preceded by serious missile and air attacks.

BTW, check out the story I posted on the other thread. They found all four sailors on the IDF ship and provided much more detail on the missile attack:

Post#67 - IDF finds remaining sailors on striken Navy Ship

Hassan Nassrallah is has just finished a live interview on CNN and claims they have destroyed 3 or 4 Israeli tanks! ???

Will be following that up closely. That will be intresting and may prove utelore correct when he predicted as below:

utelore said:

If Hizbullah has 802 anti ship missile then you can also bet your ass they have HJ-8 or Kornet ATGW. ... ...

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