You're assuming your conclusion here. What evidence is there that the Israelis could have wiped out Hezbollah if they'd kept at it?
The Israelis could have deployed enough forces onto the battlefield to outnumber the Hezbollah forces by more than 10:1, both in manpower or in effective strength, which is the generally-accepted degree of superiority needed for conventional forces to defeat irregulars such as guerillas or terrorists (*). Of course, they could not have completely prevented Hezbollah forces from retreating off the battlefield, so presumably some cadre would survive: forces are rarely "wiped out" but rather driven back with severe losses.
And what less could have counted as a victory in an operation of that size?
Driving them away from the Israeli border, and keeping them away by occupying a buffer zone, would have been adequate victory. This time, hopefully, the Israelis would have been wise enough to keep the territory they captured.
(*) Because, at such a level of superiority, they could force them to battle. If Hezbollah instead persisted in fighting as regulars, the superiority required would have been 3:1 assuming light or up to 6 or 9:1 assuming heavy defenses. However, as regulars, they would have also been more vulnerable to Israeli air and artillery.
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Date: 2007-07-25 09:42 pm (UTC)The Israelis could have deployed enough forces onto the battlefield to outnumber the Hezbollah forces by more than 10:1, both in manpower or in effective strength, which is the generally-accepted degree of superiority needed for conventional forces to defeat irregulars such as guerillas or terrorists (*). Of course, they could not have completely prevented Hezbollah forces from retreating off the battlefield, so presumably some cadre would survive: forces are rarely "wiped out" but rather driven back with severe losses.
And what less could have counted as a victory in an operation of that size?
Driving them away from the Israeli border, and keeping them away by occupying a buffer zone, would have been adequate victory. This time, hopefully, the Israelis would have been wise enough to keep the territory they captured.
(*) Because, at such a level of superiority, they could force them to battle. If Hezbollah instead persisted in fighting as regulars, the superiority required would have been 3:1 assuming light or up to 6 or 9:1 assuming heavy defenses. However, as regulars, they would have also been more vulnerable to Israeli air and artillery.