Israel Matzav: Lebanese defense minister advises how to defeat Hezbullah

Saturday, December 04, 2010

Lebanese defense minister advises how to defeat Hezbullah

Isn't Wikileaks wonderful? Haaretz reports on a Wikileaks document in which Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr gives advice about how Israel can win a war against Hezbullah.

In a future replay of its 2006 invasion of southern Lebanon, Israel should take care not to antagonize local Christian communities, Elias Murr told the United States embassy in Beirut, according to a document released by the WikiLeaks group.

"Israel cannot bomb bridges and infrastructure in the Christian areas," Murr was quoted as saying in the cable, sent by a U.S. diplomat to the State Department in Washington. "The Christians were supporting Israel in 2006 until they started bombing their bridges."

...

In the run-up to an invasion, the Israel Defense Forces should also take care not to enter a United Nations-controlled buffer zone along the border, Murr said. He said Hezbollah would use any Israeli violation of UN Security Council 1701, which brought an end to the 2006 war, to "flood" the area with fighters and weapons.

As if that hasn't happened already....

Murr also told the diplomat that Hezbollah, despite claiming victory in 2006, when it inflicted heavy IDF casualties, was far less confident of holding off another Israeli attack.

"I am sure Hezbollah is scared and they are preparing for a severe lesson this time," he was quoted as saying.

...

While Israel and Lebanon each classify the other as a hostile nation, Murr said that if war broke out, his main concern would be to keep the Lebanese Army out of the fighting.

"Murr was especially concerned for members of the 1st and 8th Brigades in the Beka'a valley. Murr thinks that these units will be cut off from HQ support while Israel is conducting operations against Hezbollah," the diplomat reported.

"They will have to turn to the local populace for food, water etc. Since the populace is mainly Hizballah supporters, Murr is afraid that these two units could be dragged into the fight, the ultimate disaster Murr hopes to avoid."

Later in the meeting, Murr sought information on how long invading Israeli troops might take to "clean out" Hezbollah so that supplies could be stored for Lebanese units operating in Hezbollah-controlled areas.

The defense minister also said he had told the army's commander at the time, Michel Sleiman – currently Lebanon's president – to keep out of the fighting "when Israel comes".

"Murr's opinion is that an Israeli action against Hizballah would not be a war against Lebanon and that Syria and Iran did not ask Lebanon's permission to equip Hezballah with its rockets," the report said.

"As such, the Lebanese Army has been ordered to not get involved with any fighting."

For Murr, the army's strategic objective was to survive a three week war "completely intact" and able to take over once Hizballah's militia has been destroyed, the report said.

Of course, some of this might have changed since Hezbullah became part of the government in Lebanon. Murr is now denying he ever said what the Wikileaks document said. People do things like that when they fear for their lives. And the Lebanese army has plenty of Hezbullah sympathizers (and did in 2006 too) who will be more than happy to go to war with Israel.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Elias Murr, Hezbullah, Lebanese Armed Forces, Second Lebanon War