Israel agains threatens to begin new 'offensive' even as agreement looms

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Israel's Lebanon offensive to begin in hours: govt

Fri Aug 11, 2006 9:43 PM BST253

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's expanded offensive in Lebanon will begin within hours, a government spokeswoman said on Friday, even as negotiations continued in the United Nations on a cease-fire resolution.

"The wheels will be turning" already as the army gears up, spokeswoman Miri Eisen told CNN.


http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2006-08-11T204253Z_01_L11159072_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MIDEAST-LEBANON-IMMINENT.xml&src=rss

[Tempest]

1. Israel will reject the resolution

And ignore it, just as they've ignored every other U.N. resolution.

[jpkenny]

2. It's called "saving face by taking lives."

Today burried deep in the Washington Post, (Page A-10) is a story about the Israeli reserves that is of interest. Complaints about being ill-prepared, poor equipment, poor training, you name it. They sound more and more like the US. Spending huge sums of money on high tech aerial arms and bombs and paying little attention to equiping their militaries for ground fighting.

If it were not for the huge advantage that Israel has in air power thanks to the US, it would be a totally different story now. I do not believe that if Israel had the slightest idea that Hizbollah would be this tough to conquer, Israel would have negotiated very soon after a few save-face attacks into Lebanon.

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3. I do sense that their recent assaults and moves were more political than

tactical.

[Kagemusha]

4. It's a simpler reason actually.

The IDF has been out of Lebanon and messing with Gaza etc. for so long that its training and priorities have altered to fit occupation rather than being a field army. Hardly completely. And if Hezbollah had a tank division it'd be a smoking ruin in very short order. But, Hezbollah doesn't, and doesn't want one - it's playing to IDF weaknesses as well as possible. Given that, and given the problems even IDF crack units (read: Golani Brigade) have had, it's not purely a matter of their being hard-up reservists: the mission is hard for troops in ANY modern army.