Elite Israeli units enter Lebanon but ground war plays to Hezbollah ‘home strengths’
They have sent in their elite paratrooper division, the 98th, which has seen extensive action in Gaza. So they are battle-hardened, albeit exhausted by now, after a year of conflict.
They have also sent in the 7th armoured brigade, which is the cream of their armoured units, as well. They are very well trained, very well backed up. The division is about 12,000 to 14,000 elite troops and it will be backed up by dozens of tanks and, of course, artillery as well.
So a very powerful force. But they have still maintained quite a bit in reserve just in case the operation gets into trouble.
The issue is that they are playing to Hezbollah’s home strengths as well, because now Hezbollah can fight back.
Hezbollah has a special forces unit called the Radwan Force that focuses especially on fighting in the south and they train solely in that location. Obviously the mountainous terrain, rocky terrain, lends itself to ambushes and sniper attacks.
In 2006, this is exactly what happened to what were then inexperienced Israeli units that were caught off-guard by Hezbollah’s training and were ambushed time and time and time again.
Aftermath of Israeli strikes on Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp
Residents and rescue teams inspect the damage following overnight Israeli air strikes
Ein el-Hilweh is the most densely populated refugee camp in Lebanon with more than 120,000 Palestinians
Rescue teams struggle to get inside because of the narrow alleyways
