Israel prepares home front for next war with Hezbollah

[Valin]

Long War Journal:

David Daoud

September 17, 2016

 

The Israel Defense Forces announced Friday that its nationwide Home Front Drill will be held next week. The drill, dubbed “Standing Firm,” is intended to prepare Israel’s civilian home front for emergency situations, and will include extensive training for Israel’s future war with Hezbollah. The IDF’s estimates in preparation for the exercise reveal that the next war will be relatively more destructive than previous confrontations between the two sides, but not the apocalyptic scenario envisioned by many.

 

In the decade that has passed since the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah has undeniably become a stronger force, even though it is still no match for the IDF. Its arsenal has grown to include 150,000 rockets, expanded and improved its tunnel network in south Lebanon, and is attempting to open the Golan Heights as a second front against Israel.

 

The Home Front Command’s exercise takes into account this growth in Hezbollah’s strength. As a result, it will aim to prepare Israel’s civilians for the worst-case scenario of a future war with Hezbollah. It envisions that such a war will be fought on multiple fronts – placing most of Israel under fire – and will also involve Iran, Syria and Hamas. It will include a simulation of massive rocket fire on different civilian population centers, damage to critical infrastructure, cyber-attacks and failure of electrical and communication services.

 

According to the IDF’s estimates, these actors now possess a total of 230,000 rockets and missiles of various ranges, more than half of which are in Hezbollah’s arsenal. In a future war, they will be able to jointly fire an average 1,500 rockets daily at Israel. By comparison, during the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah succeeded in striking Israel with a maximum of 160 rockets daily.

 

(Snip)