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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Syria builds 'death trap' villages along border in preparation for war |
| 2006-12-21 |
| Warning that Israel may face a "Syrian intifada," a high-ranking officer in Northern Command has told The Jerusalem Post that villages recently built by Syria along the border are planned to be used as "death traps" for IDF troops in Hizbullah-inspired attacks. Since this summer's war in Lebanon, Syria, the officer revealed, has invested large amounts of money in replicating Hizbullah military tactics, particularly in establishing additional commando units and fortifying its short- and long-range missile array. The idea is to draw Israel into an asymmetric war, the officer said, like the warfare the IDF encounters in combat against the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as well as against Hizbullah in Lebanon. Over the past two years, Syria has built a number of villages along the border with Israel, some inhabited and some not. At first, the IDF was not sure of their purpose. But now, following the war, the officer said, it was understood. "Syria drew motivation from Hizbullah's surprise success this summer," the high-ranking officer said. "They now want to copy that type of guerrilla warfare." While for years it was assumed that Israel had a major edge against Syria's military with regard to a conventional war - tank versus tank, jet versus jet - in an urban setting, the Syrian military would be able, the officer said, to wreak havoc against IDF infantry and armored units like Hizbullah did. According to the officer, Syria has drawn three major lessons from the war and has begun to implement them. The first is that rockets - 4,000 struck northern Israel during the 33-days of fighting - can paralyze the home front. The second is that antitank missiles can penetrate the Merkava tank and force infantry units to abandon armored personnel carriers and trek into enemy territory by foot. And the third is that in villages and cities the Israeli Air Force's abilities are limited and IDF ground forces can be defeated. During the war, the IDF fell into several deadly ambushes in southern Lebanese villages; one in Bint Jbail killed eight soldiers from Battalion 51 of the Golani Brigade. The Syrian military, the officer said, was conducting urban warfare exercises in preparation for the possibility of a war with Israel. The IDF has also dramatically increased its training regiments and has, at all times, between two-to-three brigades training in the Golan Heights. Lacking clear intelligence regarding Syrian intelligence, the officer said that the Northern Command's "working assumption" was that there was a possibility of war and there was a need to prepare accordingly. While defense officials have crisscrossed in recent weeks concerning the sincerity of Syrian President Bashar Assad's offer of peace, the top officer said that, according to "all the signs," Syria was preparing for war with Israel. The Syrian military has beefed-up forces along the Golan Heights and Israel has done the same. In the Hermon, for instance, the IDF has doubled the number of troops. |
| Posted by:gromgoru |
| #10 Is there an epidemic of brain-death? Israeli troops flattened the 3 major Hezbollah terror centers, including South Beirut. The IDF used WW2 "encirclement" techniques where the so-called "death traps" existed. I recall that the IDF suffered less than 50 combat deaths in face to face warfare. Unfortunately, Israeli domestic politics, where the opposition is expected to criticize the ruling party, served up rhetoric material for the enemy. |
| Posted by: Sneaze Shaiting3550 2006-12-21 22:40 |
| #9 moose: I was in no way advocating artillery barrages as the sole answer... just an arrow in the quiver.... however, it is a way to say: "pencilneck won't protect you now!" :-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-21 22:31 |
| #8 they don't understand that Israel would be at war with SYRIA -- not with an entity within syria. Thus, "villages" are more acceptable targets. |
| Posted by: PlanetDan 2006-12-21 21:58 |
| #7 Flat out artillery barrages along a front seldom work, even going back to WWI. The typical tactic that would be used for this would be to have light cavalry from the main body make several penetration points, through which the main body flows. Then some APCs, or the like, are used to police up the front positions, or villages, from the rear, as the main body continues forward against any second eschelon the enemy has waiting. This prevents the villages from being used as points to attack the flank or to cut off supply lines to the main body. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-12-21 21:54 |
| #6 ME Radicalist version of the Commie "War/Battle/ Local Zone" active defense strategy, via ASSASSINS MACE. Prob is Assad isn't a hardline Radicalist like Moud, and Syria-Iran [hopefully] don't have NUCLEARIZED-NBC TACTICAL/BATTLEFIELD ARTILLERY YET. By 2008-2009, IRAN is expected to have both [INDIGENOUS?] NUKE WARHEADS + EFFECTIVE MISSLE DELIVERY SYSTEMS. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-12-21 21:10 |
| #5 Didn't somebody once say something about fighting the last war? Is that what this is? |
| Posted by: Jomoting Elmique6652 2006-12-21 21:05 |
| #4 The Syrians are obviously hoping Olmert will be in charge when the Israelis crush the Assad regime : that way, Olmert will sabotage any and all functional military moves by the IDF. That is the only way these "deathtraps" will do anything more than slightly slow down the Merkavas as they head up the highway to Damascus. |
| Posted by: Shieldwolf 2006-12-21 21:00 |
| #3 Asymmetrical warfare doesn't work between nation states. This might work against an Israeli occupation after Damascus falls, but it certainly won't help Assad. However, if Israel simply destroys Syria and lets the IAF occasionally bounce the rubble, this is all for naught. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-12-21 20:55 |
| #2 napalm, artillery the remainder, bulldoze the rubble and remaining fodder and move on - why would Israel care? They don't want more of Syrians, just less of Syrian activity. Best way to achieve that? Demolish Damascus and the leadership. Second best? Less Syrians. |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-12-21 20:42 |
| #1 So you napalm the villages and move past them. What's the big deal? |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2006-12-21 19:58 |