"Although the army had conquered the town, Hezbollah men were hiding in underground bunkers well camouflaged from the outside. The bunkers had been stocked with large quantities of food, enough to last for weeks, and ammunition, including antitank missiles and, in several cases, short-range rockets.
The bunkers are connected to electricity and, according to one report, are air conditioned. When the fighting dies down, Hezbollah fighters emerge from the bunkers and set up ambushes for IDF soldiers and armored vehicles.
That is why soldiers are hit repeatedly in the same places.
On several occasions, there have been difficulties evacuating wounded soldiers under fire. At times, Hezbollah fighters have fired rockets at Israel from areas close to the border that the IDF had supposedly conquered already. The means available to flush the guerrillas out of their underground shelters are not always employed." Ze'ev Schiff in Ha'aretz
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These fellows have had a lot of help from someone. One does not learn how to organize and plan a deliberate defense like this from reading a few books. They may have learned a good deal by reading about construction of such positions but the "art" of integrating all this into a coherent whole probably required outside help. I would "vote" for the Iranians as "helpers."
It is to be expected that there may be further fortified belts to the north of this one. "Belts" may not be an exact dexcription. What I mean is a defense distributed in depth over a considerable distance. It has usually been the case that command of a defense like this is facilitated by organizing the command structure into zones of some kind.
It begins to sound like an historic battle in the making. The intention seems to have been clear. It was to lure the Israelis into an attritional battle.
Pat Lang
Sophia,
The VC/NVA maneuvered by infiltration and under cover of both darkness and heavy forestation.
We will have to see about these men. pl
Posted by: W. Patrick Lang | 12 August 2006 at 03:10 PM
sophia:
The relationship between the Iranian state and the Shia of South Lebanon is at least 400 years old.
Iranian State & polity are deeply Shia; that religion is what created and has sustained modern Iran (after 1500).
It is the epitome of living in a fantasy world to expect ties of religion and blood that have grown over the last 400 years to not matter.
Posted by: Babak Makkinejad | 12 August 2006 at 05:04 PM
"The VC/NVA maneuvered by infiltration and under cover of both darkness and heavy forestation."
Right--they maneuvered. And yes, we will have to see about HA. I have read that their anti-tank missiles are accurate from 2 miles away. My guess is that they can't maneuver--they fight well when they are dug in. Well, I hope that the IDF gets the chance to dig 'em out.
I apologize if it was not clear that the last line of my comment above was a quotation from Billmon.
As Billmon has publicly expressed skepticism on his blog as to whether Iranians corpses have cropped up among the dead combatants, a reliable cite as to the NVA helping HA would be greatly appreciated. Sounds like a George Galloway wet dream to me.
Posted by: sophia | 12 August 2006 at 05:51 PM
Sophia
I am not sure where you are going with this thought (maneuver) You think the Hizbullah are cowardly because they won't stand out in the open to fight IDF tanks? Was the Red Army cowardly to defend the ruined city of Stalingrad? There was precious little maneuver there.
The VC/NVA defended fixed positions when they thought it to their advantage or they had no choice.
Hue (twice), Hamburger Hill. These are examples of instances in which the NVA fought to the death to hold a particular piece of ground.
The IDF have lost a lot of men and vehicles trying to dig these men out of cellars, bunkers, etc.
What you should want to see is HA attacking IDF positions instead of the other way around.
The NVA were the best? They lost to us just about everywhere, everywhere but in the states. pl
Posted by: W. Patrick Lang | 12 August 2006 at 06:30 PM
"My guess is that they can't maneuver--they fight well when they are dug in."
No artillery, no air support, no back up. You really think a fighting force could hold the mighty IDF for a month simply by digging in?
Posted by: Mo | 12 August 2006 at 06:59 PM