Hezbollah’s intentions are the focus of attention in the top echelons of the defense establishment, since Hezbollah’s more than 150,000 rockets are viewed by the IDF as a greater near-term threat than even Iran. But there are proxy debates for that larger issue.
Currently and more imminently, top IDF commanders are debating whether to use force to remove a relatively insignificant (in terms of size) and meaningless (in terms of danger) a tiny Hezbollah outpost of a couple of tents intruding into Israeli territory in the disputed Mount Dov area – and if using force, how much and how soon?
Virtually all top officers agreed that attempting to convince Hezbollah to remove the outpost using diplomacy through UNIFIL was the initially preferred option.
But after a period of weeks had passed, and certainly after the whole issue became public over a month ago, a growing number of IDF senior officers want to swiftly end the saga with force, and without further delay. Some even implied to The Jerusalem Post that an operation was due to take place last week, but clearly they have not won the debate yet. READ MORE
