Did the IDF get their butts kicked in Lebanon?

Question

Hezbollah were totally outmatched in hardware and resources, yet the IDF lost manpower, a lot of machinery (including their much vaunted Merkava tanks - see the link below for the "how") for very very little gain. They attempted to crush Hezbollah, but guess who still controls southern Lebanon?

http://www.jamestown.org/terrorism/news/article.php?articleid=2370105

A clue: it ain't the IDF.

For all you lames who don't know squat about military matters: War is real simple - if you don't control the field after a battle, you lost. Period.

Answer 1

Any conventional force does not achieve its objectives 100% against a guerrilla force (insurgents). First, military science teaches us that an invading force must have 3 times the force to invade a defensive force. Ok, lets use a platoon. If a platoon is duged in a defensive position, it would take 3 platoons (or a company) to take that position. The better the defensive position is (defense in depth) you can double the amount of forces to destroy that 1 platoon(meaning now 2 companies or 6 platoons).

Now, Hezbollah works in small teams (5 to 6 men) positioned on the terrain to allow control of all axises to their position. Add trenches, bunkers, etc., you have a very, very strong defense. The use of Armor is ok, but it normally is so fast and quick that it moves past these defenses, which leaves a gap on the battlefield.

The IDF didn't get their butts kicked, but its performance was poor compared to previous military campaigns. The biggest mistake the IDF did was to rely on air-strikes based on drones, etc., and not relying on human intelligence (operatives on the ground) to locate Hezbollah bunkers, trenches, and command posts.

Hezbollah is better trained than Al Queda, better equipped, and has an effective command and control network.

Answer 2

No they did not get their butts kicked. Last I heard the IDF suffered less then 100 dead. Not bad at all for a month long battle. The UN was forced to step in because the IDF would have eventually leveled all of Lebanon.

Answer 3

It isent the idfs' fault it was the goverment! they had the idf do random tasks and things and they "the government of isreal" did not decide to invade until later in the fight. the idf did not do a great job, but since i have many friends in the IDF i know they where working as hadr as they could for the situation they where in. they could have done better but they dident get thei butts kicked as some people put it

Answer 4

Yeah, the IDF did not do to well. I hope that makes all the cheer leaders for war calm back down and start yelling for the peace table.

Answer 5

Isn't it ironic that after all the whining and crying about how brutal Israel is and the UN steps in with this cease fire to save Hezbollahs ***, now they want to claim an overwhelming victory. It only illustrates even more how cowardly Hezbollah is. Let them cheer and carry on, their day is coming.

Answer 6

lol idf lost the battle

Answer 7

yeah these stupid terrorist couldnot make use of the advanced hardware they had(mostly donated from american taxpayers)

and, of course, divine intervention played its role in lebanon. God doesnt want this jew terrorist control the world, so they failed to control lebanon (whom they considered as weakest chain of middle east countries)

Answer 8

I'd say they got their asses handed to them, to be the 4th best militarized nation they should have handled this better.

Answer 9

Their leadership failed them.