Quote Originally Posted by Abujnoub View Post
A few points.

@ The Israeli claim of 600-1,000 dead Hizbullah is an exagerration. The figure is closer to 200-300. Mind you, there were others fighting in south Lebanon - Amal, SSNP, Communists etc -

@ The IDF was unable to seize any border villages or towns until the final stages of the war when it entered Lebanon in force.

@ The IDF evenually abandoned attempting to seize the villages and simply skirted them. At the end of the war, it was possible to drive behind the IDF's front line (almost matching the configuration of the old Security Zone from the 1990s) going from village to village without seeing a single IDF soldier.

@ The reason the IDF fared so badly in my view was down to unrealistic political expectations

@. It still amazes me that the IDF had no idea of the extent of the bunker network constructed by Hizbullah in those six years, despite near daily overflights with jets, UAVs and whatever assets they may have had on the ground), and hubris on behalf of the IDF General Staff.

@ How can you defeat Hizbullah? You can't militarily in my view. You can temporarily weaken but you cannot destroy.

@ However, first, the IDF would have taken much larger casualties, second, what about Hizbullah positions north of the Litani and in the Bekaa?
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Welcome to the dust, my brother

@ Clearly that figure is an exaggeration. I have yet to see a serious source try and support it. The best estimate I know of is a little higher than 300, but comparing piles of bodies are meaningless in this matter.

@ During the early days the IDF was mainly concerned with raiding, and dismounted infiltration to clear out OPs and ATGM posts, almost always situated in civilian houses, and thus in villages.

@ So the IDF by-passed villages of no tactical importance. - and why would you expect to see IDF soldiers once they are exploiting northwards?

@ Correct.

@ If you have knowledge of basic engineering, then spanning out a bunker complex from the basement of a house is not that difficult, and I would not assume that the IDF IBP was a woeful as some like to believe. The amount of captured equipment would indicate otherwise.

@ Of course they can be destroyed. If Syria wanted to destroy Hezbollah, they would, and Hezbollah would never recover, and no one, who was left alive south of the Litani would ever speak the word Hezbollah again. Maybe Bashir isn't the man Hafas was, but I am sure you get my point.

@ Well that implies you believe conflict is determinable, which I do not.