Agence France Presse, 14 September 1997
JERUSALEM (AFP)-The loss of another two Israeli soldiers on the killing fields
of south Lebanon intensified calls Sunday for a unilateral withdrawal as a bloody
10-day upsurge of fighting showed no signs of abating. With morale of one of the
world's most powerful armies sapped by a series of deadly military debacles in south
Lebanon this year, several senior political and military figures want Israel to beat a
retreat from a guerrilla conflict some have labelled Israel's Vietnam.
"Israeli society is showing signs of obvious fatigue and is looking for clear,
simple and rapid responses to the conflict, but that is impossible to provide," army
chief of staff General Amnon Shahak told Israeli radio. His comment follows the death
of two 21-year-old sergeants early Sunday in a bombing claimed by Iranian-backed
Hezbollah guerrillas in Israel's self-declared "security zone" in southern Lebanon.
The deaths bring to 33 the number of Israeli troops killed in south Lebanon since
January, making 1997 already the deadliest year for the army since Israel invaded its
northern neighbour in 1982. "The Israeli army should leave south Lebanon
unconditionally and an international force should deploy there," Internal Security
Minister Avigdor Kahalani said. "By staying in south Lebanon, this conflict will
continue to cause victims in the ranks of the Israeli army and undermine Israel's will to
resist," said Kahalani, one of four ministers to have openly called for a withdrawal.
The Israeli army has lost some 1,200 soldiers in Lebanon since 1982, around
half since the partial evacuation in 1985 which left a 850 square kilometre (340-mile)
buffer zone to protect its northern border from guerrilla attack. Since then, an average
of two soldiers a month has died in south Lebanon, but the rate has risen this year to
about four a month, even excluding the 73 troops killed in a helicopter accident in
February on their way to the zone. In comparison, Israel has killed 39 among enemy
ranks, 32 from Hezbollah which spearheads the armed campaign to oust Israel from
the occupied zone.
"These figures really show that Tsahal (the Israeli army) is not succeeding in
wiping out Hezbollah and it is becoming a war of attrition," said Amir Oren, military
commentator of the Haaretz newspaper. "The Israeli army is obsessed with this type
of conflict and has reacted in the past by having military escalations which allow it to
use its technological superiority," he told AFP. "But the experience of the 1982 war
and the large-scale operations that followed it have shown that an escalation leads to
nothing," he said. "As it is impossible to remain on the defensive, the army has
launched counter-guerrilla attacks with varying success, beyond the zone," he added.
But these operations have extracted a heavy price, with the death less than two
weeks ago of 12 elite marine commandos in a bungled night-time raid far north of the
buffer zone. They also brought the Israeli troops into direct conflict with the Lebanese
army, which lost six men when Israel fired missiles on to military positions near the
southern port of Sidon on Friday night. "The irony is that Israel has found itself
confronting the Lebanese army when what it wanted to do was bolster its strength
against Hezbollah," said Oren.
Military historian Martin Van Creveld said the army and the Israeli army have
become weary of 15 years of war in Lebanon. "In this type of conflict, those who last
the course will be the winners. But the Israelis are less and less prepared to pay the
price," Van Creveld said. "Tsahal, one of the most powerful armies in the world, is
used to fighting much weaker adversaries, even civilians. But ... the army today does
not have the means to fight 400 to 500 determined Hezbollah fighters."
An opinion poll carried out shortly after the disastrous commando raid on
September 5 found that 52 percent of those queried favored a unilateral pullout from
Lebanon. In addition, a petition launched by a group of mothers of men serving in
Lebanon has collected 10,000 signatures for an unconditional withdrawal. "All I know
is that we must put an end to this folly," said one campaigner, Ronit Nahmias.