Israel's new war doctrine focuses on combat in tunnels, bunkers

http://www.geostrategy-direct.com/geostrategy-direct/secure/2013/05_08/me.asp

 

Israel's new war doctrine focuses on combat in tunnels, bunkers

TEL AVIV — The Israel Army has been testing its new combat doctrine, meant to be used in any regional war.

In April 2013, the army convened dozens of senior commanders for an exercise near the border with Lebanon. The commanders, who represented regular and reserve units, sought to integrate the new doctrine for the infantry.

"We are able to overwhelm our enemies," Brig. Gen. Itai Virov said. "We have the tools to do it, despite the uncertainty that characterizes the battlefield."

The doctrine was deemed a requirement in wake of the Hizbullah war in Lebanon in 2006. The Iranian proxy fought from tunnels that extended through southern Lebanon to the border with Israel.

The doctrine was meant to direct infantry units to fight Iran's proxies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Officers said the doctrine, reviewed for brigade and battalion commanders, focused on combat in bunkers, tunnels and thick shrubbery.

"The one who should be anxious about underground combat is the person inside, underneath the ground, and not the person above," Virov said.

[On April 30, the Israel Air Force struck and killed a Palestinian in the Gaza Strip deemed a leading Al Qaida-aligned operative. Hitham Masha'al was identified as a rocket specialist and the first Palestinian targeted and killed by Israel since the mini-war with Hamas in November 2012.]

During the training, commanders toured a tunnel built by the military for underground warfare. They also attended infantry maneuvers that implemented elements of the new doctrine.

"In the next war, the battalions and commanders will not fight only in the open terrain that we are familiar with, but in all the possible terrains — shrubbed terrain, fortified and underground," Col. Yoav Mordechai, head of doctrine for Infantry and Paratroopers, said.