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The three lessons of the Second Lebanon War taught us to be wary of appeasers both here and in the US. Talkbacks (22) Five years ago this week, Iran’s Lebanese proxy opened war with Israel. The war lasted 34 days, during which Hezbollah launched more than 4,000 missiles against Israel. Now five years later, under US President Barack Obama, America is pushing a policy that drastically escalates the chance that a new war between Israel and Iran’s Lebanese army will break out again in the near future. Back in 2006, Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s aggression was swift but incompetent. While...

The IDF is set to conduct a wide ranging war drill on Israel’s home front next week. The drill, called “Turning Point 5” will begin on Sunday and continue for five days until Thursday. The drill will include all the national emergency agencies, including the Home Front Command, the National Emergency Authority (NEA), local authorities, government ministries, security and rescue organizations, the education and welfare systems, and public and private entities. This will be the fifth consecutive year in which the “Turning Point” drill is being held (similar drills were held in May of 2009 and May of 2010). The...

Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz said Thursday that “In any future warfare there will be an effort to bring about a swift result and to cut down the time that the fighting lasts, because we know that our ability to decide the battle depends on the Home Front’s resilience.” Photo Gantz spoke at a ceremony at the Chief of Staff’s bureau in Tel Aviv, in which Brigadier General Eyal Eizenberg was promoted to the rank of major general. Eizenberg will replace Maj. Gen Yair Golan as Home Front Commander in the coming days. Golan will become Head of Northern...

The organization's assumption is that by fighting from within populated areas, they will wear down Israel, which will be apprehensive about a mass killing of civilians. Israel, which appears to enjoy high-quality intelligence on events in Lebanon, is collecting information about these "urban reserves" as well. At the same time, the Dahiya doctrine has also been developed, by which the IDF has threatened to respond to rocket fire originating from Shi'ite villages by unleashing a vast destructive operation -- as it did against the Shi'ite quarter (the Dahiya ) in Beirut in 2006. The Israeli threats and the scars of...

The IDF has taken the unusual step of publicizing some of its “targets banks” in southern Lebanon – buildings in southern Lebanese villages that Hizbullah has taken over for the storage and launching of long-range rockets. It has long been known that Hizbullah uses quiet villages nestled in the hills of southern Lebanon to stockpile weapons and rockets. The IDF has now announced openly that it knows precisely which buildings to target if and when the Third Lebanon War breaks out. The first war fought by Israel in Lebanese territory took place in the summer of 1982, and was known...

The Next War by Ari Bussel The signs are there, the occurrence fixed only the actual dates are unknown. Given a shock like the American usage of nuclear bombs in World War II, the war may be short, as was the Six Day War in 1967. Or it can be long, much longer than the Day of Atonement War in 1973, if it becomes an all-out war for elimination and survival. In either case, it will start with a surprise attack, like Pearl Harbor or Germany’s invasion of Poland. Israel and the West will be dumbfounded and awake to a...

(IsraelNN.com) The IDF Intelligence video released this week showing Hizbullah terrorists stockpiling long-range missiles is the proof that Israel needs to “take off its gloves” in the next round of warfare. So says long-time military analyst Yisrael Katzover, speaking with Arutz-7’s Hebrew newsmagazine. The video footage, released on Tuesday of this week, shows the terrorists taking missiles and other weaponry out of a southern Lebanon warehouse, where an explosion had occurred the day before, and loading them onto trucks. United Nations ceasefire resolution 1701 that ended the Second Lebanon War of 2006 clearly bans such activity...

IDF Builds Fake Muslim City To Prepare For WarBy SHELLY PAZ The Jerusalem Post The IDF unveiled an Urban Warfare Training Center (UTC) on Monday in a mock city that simulates an Arab town, four months after the second Lebanon war ended. The unit's commanders firmly stated that the city was planned eight years ago and that construction began a year ago. They added that the current pace of the training was two battalions each week. The mock city is located in the southern Tze'elim military base. From a distance, it looks like any Arab urban center. Around 500 structures...

JERUSALEM – Syria and Hezbollah are likely to start a war with the Jewish state within 10 months, according to an assessment presented to the political leadership here by the Israeli Defense Forces. IDF leaders did not release the specific timing of what they said are expected clashes, but they urged Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government in meetings the past few weeks to allow the IDF to prepare for a possible major conflict, according to senior military officials. The officials said the assessments, compiled by the general staff of the IDF, are based on intelligence information and what they said...

By CAROLINE GLICK Since the cease-fire was implemented in Lebanon, we have heard scattered reports indicating that a prisoner swap with the Palestinians may be in the works. In exchange for hundreds if not thousands of Palestinian terrorists now held in Israeli prisons, IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage by Palestinian terrorists for nearly two months, may be released from captivity. These reports lend weight to the view that things are back to normal. Terrorists kidnap Israelis and hold them hostage and Israel releases terrorists in order to free them. It is a comforting thought for people...