Israel has proved it has the most impressive military in the world

Whatever one’s views on Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon hitherto, from a military and a security perspective the operation to take down the Hezbollah command and control networks is singularly extraordinarily impressive. 

This is not some hastily-construed mission in the wake of the genocidal attacks by Hamas as witnessed in the immediate aftermath of October 7, but a highly sophisticated strike clearly coordinated with years of intricate and synchronised intelligence gathering – allowing Israel to map the terrorists from top to bottom.

We will probably never know the full extent of the intelligence behind the dismantling of the Hezbollah military network, but having been involved in similar operations against Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Taliban I know it will be deep, varied and comprehensive. No doubt the “Human Intelligence” operators, spies to you and me, have been embedded in Lebanon for years.  

This is the indirect approach to military operations, devised by British tank commander Basil Liddell Hart, as a way to conduct operations and avoid the hideous level of casualties he experienced in WW1. At its heart is doing what the enemy will never expect, attacking weakness and reinforcing success.  

The ability to force the terrorists off their mobile phones and onto pagers and push-to-talk radios was a flash of brilliance – and extraordinarily audacious. Not only did it injure thousands of terrorists, but also identified them and their commanders

This knowledge was then used by the Israelis who in the last 7 days have systematically taken out their leaders, culminating today with the announcement that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah is no more. Equally impressive is the hold that the nation has over the Ayatollahs in Tehran, who have pretty much stood by and thrown Hezbollah under the proverbial Israeli juggernaut. They are no doubt fearful that Israel might take the fight to Iran, which the US would likely turn a blind eye to.

There will be many siren voices from the military academic community asking why, if Israel can manage to virtually obliterate a terrorist organisation, the UK failed to do the same in Iraq and Afghanistan. The answer is threefold. Firstly, the Israelis seem pretty much unencumbered by rules of engagement which always hamstrung our operations in the Middle East. Secondly, the IDF seem to be undeterred by their politicians who appear to accept extraordinary levels of civilian casualties and collateral damage. And thirdly, this is an existential fight for the survival of the Israeli state which was never the case in Iraq and Afghanistan for us.

However, the coalition operation led by the US and including the UK to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria between 2015 to 2017 was not dissimilar, and effectively culminated in the defeat of the jihadists.   This time I was supporting the Iraqi Kurd military, the Peshmerga on the ground, rather than as a British soldier, with the coalition providing precision strikes and intelligence on an industrial scale without having boots on the ground. Again, with generous rules of engagement and all those around ISIS considered combatants, collateral damage and casualties were not significant issues.

The implications of today’s action cannot be understated. Israel has seized the initiative in the most extraordinary manner, and this demonstration of military brilliance may well even convince Tehran to direct its other terror proxy Hamas to release the remaining hostages and sue for peace across the region. We can only hope.