even israel knows that if this skirmish escalates from a proxy war to a regional one, catalyzed by attacking syria, it will get completely fucked. there’s no way that israel is going to pay it’s debt to the united states with suicide for the good of american war industry.

Nice headline.

Boss, I tend to disagree. Israel’s Army is the 4th most powerful in the world. Their Air Force is the most powerful in the world. They get their F-16s from the U.S. and trick ‘em out so that they are the only planes in the world that can fly backwards. Their air-to-surface missles can go through other planes and still hit their targets. They recieve more than $2.5 billion annually in direct military aid from the U.S., and that doesn’t even count the free weapons we give them. Every Israeli is trained at least as an ambulence assistant. Their entire government is ex-military and they have a complete military mentality. They prepare for the worst always. They train for it. They possess between 300-400 Nukes. And most of all: location, location, location. Besides the fact that Syria is horribly positioned to send reinforcements even in to Lebanon to support Hizb Allah (Israel strategically planned their points of incursion and air strikes specifically so that it would be difficult for Syria to send reinforcements), Israel is in the middle of a desert and bordered by the Mediterranean. Nobody can invade Israel without Israel knowing about it days in advance of when it happens. And with their Air Force, whoever was going to invaded would be decimated before they got there. Iran’s Army is weak and so is Syria’s. Despite the huge amount of havoc Israel has bestowed upon Lebanon it is really only a fraction of what they are capable of.

Remember, you’re talking about an Israel that initiated a conflict with Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraq in 1967 when it’s military was significantly less powerful relatively than it is now. And they won pretty easily.

The only threat that Israel really needs to worry about is getting involved in a long war of attrition, which is exactly what Hizb Allah wants. As the ground invasion begins, we are coming to what appears to be the climax of these operations. Hizb Allah has dug in now and their cards are all on the table. They have challenged Israel to a close-combat affair. Hizb Allah knows that they may be defeated tactically but they are willing to lose the tactical battle if they can inflict heavy casualties on the IDFs. Israel wants to be in and out as quick as possible. As the IDFs put more durress on Hizb Allah, Hizb Allah will go back to isurgent tactics they used in the 1980s and 90s: bombings, assassinations, and kidnappings. That – a quagmire – is the only thing that Israel wants to avoid. That is why they are being so relentless in the first place.

Israel’s afraid of nobody in the region. That is their only admirable quality – their own self-determination.

Fuck him, and my nephews and nieces are not going till his party bitches of daughters go.

I HAVE SPOKEN… and they trust me, not him. The ignorant puppet.

so to disagree with me you are saying, in direct contradiction of one of the main points of this article, that israel thinks it is prepared for war with every islamic country in the middle east because of military superiority and the negev?

In short: yes.

I think Israel is prepared for war with Syria, yes. Perhaps not with every Islamic Country in the region. I don’t think they want… Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, et al drawn in. I’m saying that they aren’t frightened of Syria. And ostensibly Iran, but Iran is so geographically out of the way it doesn’t even really come into the picture until much further down the road if we make it that far (except for Hizb Allah’s counterparts there that have already stated publicly that they would carry out attacks on Israeli and/or American targets if given the go-ahead from Kahmeini).

Israel could win a war against Syria easily. I think the article grossly misrepresents the facts. Israel doesn’t want to go to Syria like the U.S. wants them to not because they’d be fucked necessarily, but rather because it is not in their immediate best interests. They do have a definite objective in Lebanon. The U.S. has a different set of desires in mind in attacking Syria. The two are strong allies, but they are not the same country.

Either way, Israel is militarily set for a war with Syria.

To be prepared for war is part of the training of a military force. When you have a force strong enough you count on deterrence and the common sense of your neighbours.

I listened to many interviews with IDF troopers. The tone is not one of conquest but one of getting rid definitively of Hezbollah. Doing the job. I haven’t seen much enjoyment for the situation. I doubt Israeli want to engage in war any further and I would be surprised their military would risk an open ended conflict.

They have technology, weaponry, expertise and commitment but their numbers are limited. Almost all the reserve is now active. A force of about 60,000. Not even the numbers to form divisions. Their strenght is at brigade level with one primary tactic swiftness.

They may be brutal but I do not think they are stupid.

Bush ‘Viewed War In Lebanon As A Curtain-Raiser For Attack On Iran:‘ The Bush administration was informed in advance and gave the ‘‘green light’‘ to Israel’s military strikes against Hizbollah — with plans drawn up months before two Israeli soldiers were seized — it has been claimed. The US reportedly considered Israel’s actions as a necessary prerequisite for a possible strike against Iran.

Seymour Hersh: U.S. Helped Plan Israeli War Plans, Cheney ‘‘Convinced’‘ Assault on Lebanon Could Serve as Prelude to Preemptive Attack on Iran: Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reports in this week’s issue of the New Yorker that Israeli officials visited the White House earlier this summer to get a ‘‘green light’‘ for an attack on Lebanon. The Bush administration approved, Hersh says, in part to remove Hezbollah as a deterrent to a potential US bombing of Iran. Listen/Watch/Read

bg. “Israel’s Army is the 4th most powerful in the world. Their Air Force is the most powerful in the world. [etc.]”

Yeah, but… Insurgencies are what wars are these days. The days of men against men on open, level ground are over. The days of rows of tanks against rows of tanks are over. The days of jet fighter dogfights are over. The days of carpet and firebombing entire cities are over.

Yeah, sure, the U.S. / Isrealis would start with “surgical” strikes and “mini” nukes, but, guess what? Right after the initial “major combat operations are over” the war will deteriorate into an INSURGENCEY with guerilla tactics.

People need to wake up. There never will be “conventional” warfare again. All wars will now end up as insurgencies that will last decades.

All out war in the Middle East means decades of insurgencies all over the globe. For decades! All over the globe!

You are in a maze of twisty little insurgencies all alike.

“... getting rid definitively of Hezbollah.”

They already tried that, didn’t they?

“Israel could win a war against Syria easily.”

Famous last words, aren’t they?