Tag Archives: hezbollah

Disarming Hezbollah no longer an option Israel’s failure to fully pursue Hezbollah in the region below the Litani River in southern Lebanon as well as in southern Beirut and the Bekaa Valley is a model of what not to do when fighting terrorist organizations. The Israeli government’s strategy of over reliance on air power during […]

With the cessation of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel largely holding after 24 hours, it is time to look at the likely winners and losers of the Hezbollah-Israel war. Israel spent the weekend scrambling to reach the Litani River and consolidate their positions south of the river before the fighting ended, launching an attack which […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations; yellow Israeli airstrikes; orange clashes. Click map to view. The government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has given the Israeli Defense Force the final approval to conduct the ground assault to the Litani River in southern Lebanon. “According to military sources, close […]

The Israeli Cabinet vote on the authorization for the Israeli Defense Force to expand ground operations in southern Lebanon highlights the government’s lack of a cohesive plan at the war’s outset and the hesitation to take the fight directly to Hezbollah on the ground. At the start of the war, the initial plan was to […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations; yellow Israeli airstrikes; orange clashes. Click map to view. Israeli Defense Force commandos have conducted another behind the lines raid in Hezbollah territory, this time in the town of Ras al-Biyada (Al Bayyadah on the map), which sits on the Lebanese coast […]

“We are in a battle, and that more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media. And that we are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our Ummah.” – Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi Reuters’ faked photograph of […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations; yellow Israeli airstrikes; orange clashes; dark blue IDF commando raid. Click map to view. The naval commandos of Flotilla 13, one of the Israeli Defense Force’s elite units, conducted a raid into the heart of Tyre, striking at what is described as […]

The Israeli government continues the debate over the shape of the proposed buffer zone in southern Lebanon, as well as the shape of the campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Haaretz reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz are at odds over how deep the IDF should push into Lebanon. Peretz advocates […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations; yellow Israeli airstrikes; orange clashes. Click map to view. The Israeli Defense Force is probing hard across the entire Lebanese border, from Metulla to Marwahin. Eight Israeli brigades, at about 1,000 soldiers per brigade, plus supporting units (engineering, artillery, reconnaissance, communications, logistics) […]

Location of Israeli airstrikes in the Bekaa Valley and Tyre, and the raid on Baalbek. Click map to view. Israeli commandos made a bold strike deep into Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the heart of Hezbollah’s empire. Israeli helicopters, backed by the Israeli Air Force, inserted an unknown number of commandos, who proceeded to the target, a […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations; yellow Israeli airstrikes; orange clashes. Click map to view. The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to “expanded ground operations in Lebanon,” after an early morning vote by the Israeli security cabinet. Senior officers in the Israeli Defense Force have […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations. Click map to view. After the airstrike in the Lebanese town of Qana, which killed 57 civilians, Israel has enforced a unilateral 48 hour cessation of air strikes against targets in Lebanon. A new report indicates 28 more civilians were killed during […]

The skill and training of Hezbollah’s Army in southern Lebanon becomes clearer after details emerge about Wednesday’s fighting in Bint Jubayl, where the Israeli Defense Force’s elite Golani Brigade and Hezbollah fighters have been slugging it out since last week. The most recent combat in Bint Jubayl claimed the lives of 9 Israeli soldiers and […]

As the smoke clears from the fighting in the Lebanese border town of Bint Jubayl, Hezbollah’s military capabilities become clearer. Today, 8 Israeli soldiers from the Golani Brigade’s 51st Battalion were killed and 22 wounded during a “well-planned Hezbollah ambush on the outskirts” outside of Bint Jubayl. This follows the 4 killed and 18 wounded […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations, orange recent clashes. Click map to view. The Israeli Defense Force’s Golani Brigade has taken the town of Bint Jubayl, Hezbollah’s southern command center, and is moving towards the town of Aytarun, another of the towns the IDF has warned the Lebanese […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied town; red IDF warned towns of operations. Click map to view. The Golani Brigade continues to slug it out with Hezbollah between the towns of Maroun al-Ras and the Bint Jubayl on the Israeli-Lebanon border. Reports indicate 15 Hezbollah have been killed, and 4 IDF killed and 18 wounded […]

Southern Lebanon. Green indicates Israeli occupied; red IDF warned of operations. Click map to view. The Israeli Defense Force is probing along the Lebanese frontier. Earlier today the IDF took control of Maroun al-Ras. Israeli army units have also occupied the towns of Yarum and Marwahin (Marwahin further west, and is currently occupied by the […]

Fighting in the Maroun al-Ras / Avivim region. Click map to view. An unknown sized force of Israeli mechanized infantry units are pushing into the Lebanese town of Maroun al-Ras. This town is the scene of the Hezbollah ambush on the Golani Brigade just two days ago, where the Israelis retreated after taking casualties. Today’s […]

In Worst Case Scenario: Hezbollah’s Conventional Forces: Hezbollah’s Conventional Forces, we discussed Hezbollah’s surprising conventional military prowess and weaponry, and reported of an ambush on a unit operating in Lebanon near Avivim. Haaretz reports that four soldiers from the Golani Brigade were killed and five wounded during the ambush, and the unit withdrew from the […]

The Israeli Defense Forces and Hezbollah have fought pitched battles over the past two days in the region around Avivim. Ynet News reports nine Israeli soldiers were wounded during the fighting, and two were killed in the nearby town of Maroun al-Ras. “Attempts to rescue some of the injured were carried out under relentless fire,” […]

Israeli troops have entered southern Lebanon for the second time in two days. Like the last raid, this one had the limited objective of destroying Hezbollah strong points on the Lebanese border, as well as “searching for tunnels and mines” in the region.

Range of Iranian built missiles possibily in Hezbollah’s arsenal. Map & graphics courtesy of Kathryn Cramer. Click map to view. After a weekend of repeated Hezbollah missile strikes into Israel, including hits in Afula and the surrounding communities, and Haifa, the Israeli Defense Force has launched a ground incursion into Lebanon. The IDF “briefly entered […]

The Iranian C802 / Chinese Jing YJ-82. Click photo to view. In last evening’s post, “The War Widens, Hezbollah Strikes Egyptian, Israeli Ships with UAVs,” we reported the Israeli warship and an Egyptian civilian vessel were likely hit with missiles launched from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and not a UAV packed with explosives. The Egyptian vessel […]

The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah has escalated, as Hezbollah has conducted two sea strikes against an Israeli warship and an Egyptian civilian ship, possibly a cruise liner. While initial reports are stating an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was used to ram the ships, an anonymous intelligence official indicates the Egyptian ship was struck by […]

The Raad. Click image to view. The rocket attack on the northern Israeli city of Haifa has raised the stakes in the very hot war between Israel and Hezbollah, and increases the possibility of widening the conflict with Syria and Iran. Haifa, the country’s third largest city, is home to over 250,000 Israelis, and Hezbollah […]

Map of Hezbollah rocket strikes in northern Israel. Click map to view. Since the Hezbollah raid on an Israeli outpost on the Lebanese border and kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, and the follow on Israeli raids into Lebanon attacking Hezbollah targets and road, bridge and air infrastructure, several events increased the prospect for a wider […]

Imad Fayez Mugniyah Hezbollah has conducted a highly successful raid into Israeli territory, attacking a Israeli Defense Force outpost along the Israel-Lebanese border, killing three soldiers and capturing two after they were wounded. Four Israeli soldiers were killed when their tank ran over a land mine in Lebanon during follow-up operations to free the captured […]