Israel has Mosul lesson ahead of Gaza storming
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu with security forces pix credit X @Netanyahu
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, October 16: Intricate web of tunnels in Gaza are known to provide safe sanctuaries to the Hamas operatives against the Israeli bombing. The city under city in Gaza has helped the Hamas stay unscathed in at least four wars with Israel, and the military strategists are wondering if Tel Aviv will be lucky in the fifth attempt to dismantle the most vicious and immediate foes.
John Amble of the Modern Warfare Institute said in an audio discussion with Ryan that Israel is well-versed with the challenges of urban warfare but the Israeli Defence Force has an uphill task waiting for them when they enter Gaza. Israel has asked almost 1.11 million civilians in Gaza to move to the northern areas to allow it to battle out the Hamas.
“The Mosul battle of 2016 could be the best example of what the Israeli forces could see when they enter Gaza. The urban warfare is full of challenges, which were seen in the battle of Mosul when the success had eluded the US-backed Iraqi forces when they launched attacks on the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). The US could get success only in the second attempt,” remarked Amble.
The security analysts claim that there lies 60 miles of intricate tunnels in Gaza, which act as city under city, to provide protection to the Hamas operatives. Israel has principally been banking in air-borne attacks so far against the Hamas in the aftermath of the savage attack which left almost 1400 people on the Israeli side dead.
The Hamas will be using the civilians as shield to amplify the public opinion against Israel in the world capitals in the event of the ground action. Already, pro-Palestinian protests are taking place in the US, Europe, Canada, and the Arab World. The security analysts note that the key strategy of the Hamas is to provoke Israel to launch disproportionate damages in the Gaza, including the killings of the civilians to turn the world against Tel Aviv.
Amble argued that while technology is on the side of the Israeli military, the war doesn’t get shorter or lesser. He underlined that Israel is guilty on the count of value of imagination as the Hamas gained the wherewithal to launch 5-6 times more rockets against Israeli targets.
In Mosul battle, the ISIS was able to withstand the first round of attacks by ensuring additional reinforcements even while the Iraqi forces had the support of more than 50 nations. Israel, note the security analysts, will need to cut off the Hamas from gaining reinforcements to achieve the objective of eliminating the threat from the Gaza strip.
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