Category Archives: Israel

The Israel Defense Forces seem not to be lacking in leadership, judging by the casualties thus far, and this report by Amos Harel, military correspondent for Haaretz:

"…as in previous battles, many of the fallen soldiers are officers. Of the 33 IDF soldiers killed in the fighting so far, eight of them were officers: three pilots, a deputy battalion commander, a company commander and two platoon commanders from Golani, and a platoon commander in the armored corps." 

"No one — yet — has accused Israel of deliberately firing upon itself [in the case of its own seven friendly-fire casualties so far]. Considering the fact that UNIFIL peacekeeping mission was a dead-letter it should naturally be asked why Kofi Annan, as their ultimate commander has seen fit to keep them in a position of danger where their only chance of safety actually depends on accurate targeting by the IDF. Their positions are manifestly so close to the Hezbollah; their convoys so at risk at being confused with mobile Hezbollah forces that only by the grace of God and the accuracy of the IDF have fatalities been avoided until now. They were willing to take the risk. Annan was willing to make the hay. You be the judge of Kofi Annan’s competence both in the care of his men and with respect to the accusation he has made against the IDF."

Wretchard’s great analysis of Annan’s accusation that the IDF deliberately killed UN troops.

From a provacative, and readable, Israeli politician’s blog, a military veteran member of milblog, of which I also am a proud member. Food for thought as the Jewish state reclaims its security.

"Israel is not the first Jewish state in the two thousand years. The Jews rebuilt their state several time. It lasted sometimes years, sometimes possibly even two centuries. The eternal Rome proved not so eternal, and neither would be Israel. We live, and we die. States expand, and contract, and cease. Societies are in permanent flux. The maximum we can strive for is to make the inter-war periods longer and the wars shorter. That could be achieved. Overwhelming destruction will terrorize the enemy for decades. Mobile penetrating strikes and preemption can make the wars short. Israel just cannot conduct any other wars: low-end Iranian and Egyptian armies have more sustaining power than IDF. Israel only bests her enemies if striking fast, hard, and deep."

IDF photo of a 2-seat Israeli F-16 wearing its home colors, and the best roundup of war reporting is still Israellycool. It’s early evening in Israel at the moment. This is from one of Dave’s earlier posts.

"All that we ask the American administration is to take a moral stance toward the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian suffering and to bear its responsibility as a superpower in this world," he told The Associated Press in an interview. He called on America "to restrain the Israeli aggression and stop it."

Air Force photo of C5 Galaxy transport, which the MSM has reported are flying into IDF bases replenishment arms for artillery and air strikes, as well as parts to maintain Israel’s Fighting Falcons and Apaches, and unloading quickly before the next arrival.

Debka has its own version of why, but we’ll have to wait and see if it’s corroborated elsewhere:

“The American airlift to Israel follows the air corridor Iran opened to replenish Hizballah’s stocks on Wednesday, July 19, landing supplies at Syria’s Abu Ad Duhur military airfield north of Homs.”

Ynetnews has a good report on the Israeli ground offensive, which quotes the brass naming the  thirteen villages to be taken, so as Wretchard notes, you can plot the advance on a map.

And the IDF reported Sunday: “Since the beginning of the current operation the Air Force has attacked upwards of 2,000 targets on more than 4,000 sorties.  IDF artillery batteries have fired upwards of 25,000 shells at Katyusha missile launch sites in southern Lebanon.”