Israel attacks Gaza Strip

Well, Hamas has almost total control of Gaza, so differing Palestinian factions shouldn't be a problem for them. Other than that, Hamas doesn't have to many advantages. The IDF can just blow away anything that gets in its way. Not much will stop the merkavas, and if they are held off, any concentration of force will be destroyed by helicopters or artillery. I think using IEDs and snipers to lure/trap Israeli soldiers in limited ambushes would be the best Palestinian strategy.

Finn McCool said:

I think using IEDs and snipers to lure/trap Israeli soldiers in limited ambushes would be the best Palestinian strategy.

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They've never been too good at that. There were only several instances where Palestinian militants had successfully trapped and killed IDF soldiers. Other than that, the Merkavas would usually plow through everything.

The Syrians have the Russian-built Kornet ATGM. Supposely it can penetrate 3 ft of reactive armour. If the Palestinians can smuggled them in from Syria, they may have a fighting chance. But other than that, there's nothing the Palestinians can do to stop the Merkava tanks in open spaces. In close spaces or street alleys, the Palestinians may tried using "Molotov cocktails" or gasoline bombs thrown on top of the tanks. But the Israelis probably avoid moving the tanks in close spaces for that reason.

Syria is 9 times the size of Israel, with 3 times the population. Yet its economy is less than 1/4th the size of Isarel's (by GNP). For Syria to compete against Israel militarily, it's hopeless. They're better off following Egypt and Jordan's example and use peace agreement as a leverage for territorial concessions from Israel and economic/military aid from the US.

If they're not willing to do that, then maybe follow China's example and put economic development first, military modernization later.

As for the Palestinians, I think in addition to different political factions struggling for control, there's some Arab/Bedouin cultural factors to consider. During the Battle of Khafji, the US army personnel observed that the Saudi and Qatari commanders and their staff would argue extensively, then retire for tea, and return later to argue some more. The chain of command was ignored in favor of bedouin-equality culture where everyone felt their opinion held equal weight.

OK, Here is a super secret tactic the U.S use in the battle for urban areas like fallujah and we learned this from Israel. It is the use of anti mine/breach line charge fired from a engineer tank. Well basically we fire this line charge down a street in a major built up area and BANG most IED and troops are killed or wounded along the 100meter distance of the line charge down the street because of the massive blast wave. Also the streets are not cratered so you can still drive down them. This method is very hard to over come if you are insurgents.

We are also no using another mine clearing device that we bought from Israel. This is really cool. It fires 20 or so thermobaric rockets down a street and BOOOM. no more bad guys. This is great for clearing areas and killing people without messing up the roadways. These two systems have really helped out in urban combat and I know for a fact Israel pioneered the alternative use of these systems. I almost feel sorry for Hammas gunman in Gaza.

utelore said:

OK, Here is a super secret tactic the U.S use in the battle for urban areas like fallujah and we learned this from Israel. It is the use of anti mine/breach line charge fired from a engineer tank. Well basically we fire this line charge down a street in a major built up area and BANG most IED and troops are killed or wounded along the 100meter distance of the line charge down the street because of the massive blast wave. Also the streets are not cratered so you can still drive down them. This method is very hard to over come if you are insurgents.

We are also no using another mine clearing device that we bought from Israel. This is really cool. It fires 20 or so thermobaric rockets down a street and BOOOM. no more bad guys. This is great for clearing areas and killing people without messing up the roadways. These two systems have really helped out in urban combat and I know for a fact Israel pioneered the alternative use of these systems. I almost feel sorry for Hammas gunman in Gaza.

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So far there hasn't been an Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. The Israelis are simply shelling and bombing the place. The reason there probably hasn't been an invasion yet is because the casualties will probably be high for both the Israelis and the Palestinians. The Palestinians have seemed to upgrade their arsenal (they have an RPG capability now). If the Palestinians were only armed with rifles, Israeli tanks would have already invaded Gaza and all of its refugee camps.

Nah crazy, I don't think the Israeli's are a bit concerned about the RPG. The biggest issue right now for Israel is trying to keep Abbas and Al Fatah kind of on their side. They want to Isolate Hammas while at the same time give Al Fatah creditability. Israel will not be able to do this if they pummel Gaza back into the Pre-stone age. Please believe me in that Israel would have no, not ta, zero problem in going into Gaza and kicking ass with very little casualties.

On the military side of it your looking at palestinians with very little in the terms of combat power. Yes they have the RPG "BUT" very little training with this weapon because training uses RPG rounds and it also attracts the attention of rival groups and Israel and plus the RPG sucks I have fired one three times and the third time it almost killed me on a failure to fire issue. like I had mentioned in the above post pertaining to the line charge breaching method of killing bad guys. The poor poor Hammas are so out classed in training, equipment, intel that this invasion of Gaza is almost funny from a military guys point of view. The best and worst thing Hammas can do right know is renew its terrorist attacks but that has been really hampered with "the Fence" and some other issues that I wont go into right now......cheers ute.

In the end, I'm not too sure what Israel will accomplish out of this. The Palestinians, as lousy fighters as they are, don't give up. They aren't going to go against Hamas rather they are supporting Hamas even more these days. Cutting off essential basics to a population doesn't do much but just create more hatred. All this military action isn't going to help the Israelis find their missing soldier and when its all over and Hamas is still there, its reputation among the Palestinians would have skyrocketed. So in military terms, the actions that Israel is doing is only going to make the situation even worse for everybody in the future. There will be more supporters for Hamas, more bombings, more whatnot....why can't everybody just play a good game of soccer, eat falafil and get along?

i basicly agree with crazyinsane.palestinians will never give up whatever happen.
israelis attack would make palestinians tend to hate n attack on israelis.palestinians are bored with diplomacy and talk which is going nowhere.that's why palestinians tend to support hamas rather than fatah

crazy, because we are humans. The most aggressive and nutty species on this planet. sorry for the one liner but I think it somes it up. I mean look at us. sitting here looking at an Internet site dedicated to the machines of killing other humans....too funny