A war with Hezbollah was predicted to involve thousands of rockets fired daily by the group. Although Israel has air defenses to counter rocket fire, this would strain those defenses. And the concern about a wider conflict looms in the region: Iran’s proxies in Iraq and Syria have carried out attacks on U.S. forces and Iran-backed Houthis have fired missiles and drones targeting Israel. A U.S. warship shot down those threats, reportedly with assistance from Saudi Arabia.
This brings us back to the waiting game that Israel is now forced into as it prepares a ground incursion into Gaza. The IDF has trained for a multi-front war, one that was expected to involve Hezbollah as the main adversary and Hamas as the lesser challenge. Now, after a fierce attack, Israel must defeat Hamas, but its Momentum plan calls for decisive victory over various adversaries.
Preventing the two-front war has become the priority, which illustrates a tough lesson for planners. Israel prepared for this scenario, but the actual conflict is proving to be more complex and difficult than the vision of a victory on two fronts.
Seth J. Frantzman, Ph.D., is the author of “: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future.” He has more than 15 years of experience covering conflict and security issues in the Middle East as a correspondent and analyst, and is an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Content retrieved from: https://themessenger.com/opinion/israel-hamas-hezbollah-iran-gaza-galilee-lebanon-middle-east-war.
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