The Lebanese lumber…
JERUSALEM – Hezbollah’s sophisticated anti-tank missiles are perhaps the guerrilla group’s deadliest weapon in Lebanon fighting, with their ability to pierce
Israel’s most advanced tanks.Experts say this is further evidence that Israel is facing a well-equipped army in this war, not a ragtag militia. Hezbollah has fired Russian-made Metis-M anti-tank missiles and owns European-made Milan missiles, the army confirmed on Friday.
In the last two days alone, these missiles have killed seven soldiers and damaged three Israeli-made Merkava tanks â?? mountains of steel that are vaunted as symbols of Israel’s military might, the army said. Israeli media say most of the 44 soldiers killed in four weeks of fighting were hit by anti-tank missiles.
…Israel’s Merkava tanks boast massive amounts of armor and lumber and resemble fortresses on tracks. They are built for crew survival, according to Globalsecurity.org, a Washington-based military think tank. [source]
Ironically the Merkava was more or less developed for usage in Lebanon starting in 1982 and is probably the most infamous symbol of the Israeli war machine.
Just for the record.
The Merkava was first sabotaged by Palestinians during the first intifada. Israel was shocked.
And they developed newer versions, still in the second intifada it was destroyed. It’s mentioned in the Wiki article provided.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkava
Anyways, I think HizbAllah so far is showing a high level of sophistication and organization. I think their major strength is their well readiness. It seems someone is finally not doing it the Arab way (you know thinking 300 steps ahead,having plans for different scenarios) rather “3ala el tasaheel” o :inshallah” o rabbak kareem and so on!
Merkava is supposed to be the most protected tank in the world.
But anyways, Israel is still a major military products supplier in the world. They were the first to think seriously about creating a fleet of UAVs.
But in wars, if you own the sky, everything else is irrelevant.
Firas, yeah i already linked the wiki article in the post.
the problem however is that a nation can use its airforce to bomb the crap out of another nation but if it seeks to have any real control it has to move in on the ground…and that’s when they run into the bigger problem. how the U.S. invaded Iraq is a good example of that. the first week is more or less just the airforce bombing and paving the way for ground troops.
Israel has gotten more than what it thought. They thought it would be another few days war in which they smash anothr Arab army.
Just the opposite has happened. Three weeks of combat and Hizb’Allah is still reigning down fire on Israel.
12 Israeli soldiers were killed today in ISRAEL by Hizb’Allah fire. The lesson to be learned here is form small, highly trained technical forces, and Israel will not be able to beat you.
There are lessons being learned by many in the Arab world right now, and Israel will soon learn to regret it’s actions.