Israel making plans for high-intensity, 3-week war with Hizbullah

:Israel making plans for high-intensity, 3-week war with Hizbullah 

GeoStrategy direct w/e 27-Nov-13 

Israel has been planning for a high-intensity three-week war with Hizbullah, a report said. 

The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs said Israel has been bolstering its air and ground campaign for an expected war with the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah. In a report, the institute said Israel would seek to stop Hizbullah missile barrages, which could reach 2,000 per day. 

"Israelis believe that the only solution to neutralizing Hizbullah is through a rapid, highly coordinated ground and air campaign lasting no more than three weeks and relying on actionable intelligence, precise targeting, fast and accurate data transmission, overwhelming firepower, and rapid maneuver," the report, "The 2013 JINSA Generals and Admirals Trip to Israel and Jordan," said. 

The report, based on a tour in October 2013, said Israel expected to sustain more casualties on the home front than on the battlefield. For its part, Israel, bogged down in the 2006 war, has been challenged by the prospect of heavy Hizbullah resistance to any infantry advance. 

"Logistical challenges are most acute," the report said. 

Hizbullah has also coopted the Lebanese Army and blocked operations by the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, the report said. The Iranian proxy has also stored much of its weapons in villages and cities around Lebanon in an effort to foil Israeli air strikes. 

The report said Hizbullah has acquired long-range missiles, dispersed throughout Lebanon and Syria. The Israeli assessment of Hizbullah's missile and rocket arsenal was between 50,000 and 60,000, including Grad, Fajr, M-600, Scud D and the P-800 Yakhont cruise missile. 

"Advances in Israel's air-to-ground support capabilities will be necessary to avoid a repeat of the 2006 Lebanon War, when it was expected that Israeli airpower would overwhelm Hizbullah's fighting ability and IDF ground troops would rapidly advance northward, pushing Hizbullah's short-range rocket launchers out of range of Israel," the report said.