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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| 'Hezbollah aren't suckers, they know how to fight |
| 2006-08-05 |
| Young men -- knowing what they are doing -- and it is right You're scared all the time' By Stephen Farrell Israeli soldiers recount stories of a terrifying week facing the snipers and missiles of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon AT FIRST light they filtered from the undergrowth, camouflaged, laden with captured hunting rifles and crested Lebanese scimitars, and high-fiving with relief at still being alive. After nearly a week of vicious ditch-to-ditch fighting with Hezbollah fighters in the village of Taibeh, hundreds of exhausted Israeli soldiers slipped back across the border early yesterday after the hardest fighting they had ever experienced. As they trudged across the brow of a hill in broken single file they were indistinguishable in their battle fatigues and green face paint — some even black out their teeth in Hezbollahland — and all were drunk on adrenalin. “I was hoping to go in and kill Hezbollonim. I killed three,” one shouted as he embraced colleagues from the Nahal Brigade. As soon as they reached the outskirts of an Israeli hilltop town, which cannot be named for security reasons, they stopped and cleared their M16 automatic rifles in unison — the last task before they could relax. Some then reached inside their huge battlepacks for their mobile phones to call families and girlfriends. Others collapsed with exhaustion, washing away their fear with bottles of cola and lungfuls of cigarette smoke. A few grabbed newspapers to find out how their war was going. “What is happening in other places? What is happening in Gaza?” one asked The Times. Down a sidestreet a cluster of Israeli tourist buses waited with drinks and packed lunches. Slowly the soldiers began morphing from death-bringers to nice Jewish boys preparing for the Sabbath, peeling off clothes and cavorting halfnaked with each other beside the bougainvillea. As they did so, all the rainbow shades of Israeli society began to re-emerge — secular, Orthodox, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Sabra, Ethiopian, Russian, Brooklyn. To their matted hair they pinned all types of skullcap — knitted, military-green, Braslav, settler or none at all. But on one thing they were unanimous: the prowess of their foe. “It was hell. They are really well trained. They’re not suckers, they know how to fight,” said one, slumped on the pavement. “You’re scared the whole time over there. We didn’t get any sleep the whole week.” There was not a voice of dissent. The soldiers told how they had worked their way through the dry, scrubby hillsides towards Taibeh, facing continual attacks from Hezbollah sniper and anti-tank missile positions concealed in houses, farms, underground bunkers and seemingly deserted streets. To counter this they called in frequent support from 155mm artillery batteries on the Israeli side of the border, which pounded Taibeh sending huge plumes of smoke into the sky. “We killed ten, and the artillery must have killed thirty or forty,” said a soldier who, like his colleagues, was not allowed to give his name. He had simply lost count of Hezbollah’s attacks. “Many, many, it was very bad because you don’t know where they are coming from. But we succeeded.” Another soldier said that serving in the Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank, as he had, was nothing compared with fighting Hezbollah’s guerrillas. “It was horrible,” he said. “You don’t know what it’s like, with every second a rocket- propelled grenade shooting over your head.” A third soldier said: “All the time, they fired missiles at us. They never come face to face, just missiles. When we find them we kill them. It’s just not right, the way we are doing it. Our air force can just bomb villages and not risk our lives fighting over there.” Another, slugging cola as his friends posed for photos, added: “It feels good to do the job. And come out alive.” More than 40 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the 25 days of fighting. Watched by bemused Thai immigrants, who, post-intifada, have replaced the cheap Palestinian labour upon which the Israeli economy once relied, one soldier shouted: “I love this country.” Some of the returned fighters were optimistic. “We will defeat all the Arabs,” said one. But others, chastened by their experiences north of the border, were less sure. “It’s a lose-lose situation,” said one. “They’re a bunch of terrorists. We are an army. We can never beat them completely because we have to obey certain rules. They operate from within civilian populations, and can do whatever they like. They don’t give a shit about these things. “So it doesn’t matter if we are there for another couple of days or two weeks. But what is very important is that this is a just war on our part. Because they are a bunch of f***ing terrorists.” |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #25 And yes, it does recall Chechen tactics. |
| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-08-05 19:21 |
| #24 It is not just a "few years". It is a few years plus training from sponsors and "contractors" a bit higher up on the military proficiency chain. |
| Posted by: Fordesque 2006-08-05 19:20 |
| #23 As has been said before "Squeeze the nuts and the hearts and minds will tend to follow." I'm not certain it is even worth the effort of squeezing the nuts at this point in time. The islamofacists want to rule the world as did Hitler. We are past the time of trying to negotiate. They get their directives from Allan. They don't listen to anyone else. How can you negotiate? The Israelis are doing what the world should have done long ago. God bless them. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2006-08-05 15:59 |
| #22 #18, I believe you are wrong if you think a few years makes Hez better than Israel. Arab militaries tend to be combinations of warriors who do not work well as a team. Western armies are made of soldiers, who individually may not be so great (draftees) but working together easily crush warriors in battle (see Vietnam for another example). As in Vietnam the only chance Hezbollah has is to win the media battle because they will be slaughtered to the last man if Israel has enough time. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2006-08-05 15:21 |
| #21 »:-) |
| Posted by: RD 2006-08-05 12:49 |
| #20 Lebanon futur is Hizb and burka. Freegom is waster on mosquitoes. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-08-05 12:26 |
| #19 #14, yes. This is our problem. In a guerilla war where enemy happily uses civilian populace as cover, we have to change tactics. War cannot be waged without casualties, especially civilian casualties in these circumstances. We made this error in Iraq. Being repeated here. We should decimate entire villages if necessary. Use carpet bombing and napalm. Eradicate their cover. When civilain pain rises to a level that is not sustainable, they will either leave the area or turn in the rats and then real eradication can be made. |
| Posted by: SOP35/Rat 2006-08-05 11:32 |
| #18 Elite Hizb is better than the normal Israeli soldier. They are veterans with more than 5-6 years in ranks making spec ops. If Israel eliminates this guys Hizb gets the biggest sweep in it's history. It is also essential for Lebanon futur to do that. |
| Posted by: Clerert Uneamp2772 2006-08-05 11:28 |
| #17 JohnQC, Correct. The IDF is doing an admirable job. I'm sure they learned from the mistakes of the Russians, stated on the link that I provided on #2. I hear that the IDF is using FAE's now. Though I have problems with Olmert, I pray for the IDF everyday. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2006-08-05 11:14 |
| #16 The Hez probably think they're better than the IDF where, in contrast, the IDF has respect for enemy capabilities. The latter attitude is more likely to lead to success. |
| Posted by: JAB 2006-08-05 09:59 |
| #15 Thais huh? Another example of Paleos cutting off their noses to spite their face. The Israelis will never allow the mass Paleo work force they once had. Now all the Pals will have is to sit around, unemployed, in their squalid seething camps bitching about them Jooooos and breeding more lil' haters. Seems to be their natural condition |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-08-05 09:29 |
| #14 The description of fighting with the Hezbollah from Israeli soldiers, sounds eerily parallel to Chechen tactics. The question is "How are the Chechyan tactics countered?" They have no problem with spreading horror. Do we in the West have a problem with doing what it takes to counter these tactics? These terrorists have to be crushed in spirit and capability completely before they lose their taste for any kind of combat. They have just not experienced enough horror yet. This may require rethinking about the use of weapons and tactics and the rules of warfare. Sounds like the IDF is doing a great job. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2006-08-05 09:25 |
| #13 We could ship them via a converted container ship. -M |
| Posted by: Manolo 2006-08-05 09:15 |
| #12 No, Mexico is too far to swim, and you can't walk. So, No Mexicans. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2006-08-05 09:07 |
| #11 For a while is was Eastern Europeans who provided the cheap labour. I s'pose things got better back home, or they got tired of the risks of the Intifada, or Thais were cheaper. I love the bit about all the colours of Israel, even if the reporter doesn't translate Mizrahi as Jews expelled from Arab lands, and he missed Sepharadi altogether (the Jews originally expelled from Iberia in the 1490s-- in modern times they came from Turkey and North Africa mostly). But those are quibbles -- this article actually treats the Israeli troops as normal human beings. Good point, Snease Shaiting3550. An important reminder. :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-08-05 09:06 |
| #10 Maybe they will take some of our Mexicans, they work for cheap too, and they run off beans, rice and tortilla's. -M |
| Posted by: Manolo 2006-08-05 08:09 |
| #9 This is interesting; Watched by bemused Thai immigrants, who, post-intifada, have replaced the cheap Palestinian labour upon which the Israeli economy once relied, one soldier shouted: “I love this country.” So Thais have displaced the Paleos eh? Good - another example of cause and effect (not that the Paleos will notice). |
| Posted by: Tony (UK) 2006-08-05 07:25 |
| #8 Where's the other half of the story? The terrorists know how to hide and fire off a sucker shot at an advancing opponent. Woohoo. Anyone can do that. Not a lot of skill involved there, and difficult to counter in the opening seconds. But once they start shooting, they're exposed. And it seems the IDF always kills them with few or no more casualties once they're exposed. That takes skill. |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-08-05 03:04 |
| #7 BS! The IDF is losing less than 2 troops per day. US casualties in the Iwa Jima operation approached 50%. The reports of "pitched battles" in Lebanon are stories. What is happening is a systematic rendering of the terrorist enemy. We need to counter all the pessimistic propaganda about a non-existent defeat of Israel. |
| Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 2006-08-05 02:36 |
| #6 I've heard that American soldiers rarely if ever actually saw the Japanese in the island campaigns - the only ones they saw were dead ones. |
| Posted by: gromky 2006-08-05 02:25 |
| #5 That was a pretty good piece for the MSM (London Times). |
| Posted by: phil_b 2006-08-05 02:23 |
| #4 God bless the IDF. |
| Posted by: JDB 2006-08-05 02:21 |
| #3 “So it doesn’t matter if we are there for another couple of days or two weeks. But what is very important is that this is a just war on our part. Because they are a bunch of f***ing terrorists.” And that, my friends, is the heart of the matter. |
| Posted by: anymouse 2006-08-05 02:16 |
| #2 "We can never beat them completely because we have to obey certain rules." ...not if Bibi was your prime minister. You wouldn't catch Cheney playing by the rules, when it comes to the US soldiers. The description of fighting with the Hezbollah from Israeli soldiers, sounds eerily parallel to Chechen tactics. |
| Posted by: Poison Reverse 2006-08-05 01:59 |
| #1 Kill every last Hezb bastard. Make southern Lebanon a desert devoid of life and call it peace. |
| Posted by: mac 2006-08-05 01:24 |