Five weeks into the war in the north, it can be said that the IDF is not using creativity in its war of attrition against Hezbollah.
From the third day of the Swords of Iron War, Hezbollah terrorists began firing mortar bombs, rockets and anti-tank missiles at Israeli territory, with the intensity of their fire and damage increasing in a straight line. In between, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and explosive drones are also sent, and powerful short-range rockets are tested. The terrorists' preferred targets are the technological equipment that the IDF has placed on the antenna poles along the border.
The IDF, for its part, operates like the IDF of recent decades. Defense, and reaction fire at the sources of the fire, and attacks on the squads on their way to carry out the attacks. This defense policy ends the fifth week with a relatively low number of Israeli deaths (about ten) compared to an estimated number of about two hundred Hezbollah fighters (the organization admitted to only 73).
If it was just a war of military attrition, so be it. The IDF's defense policy ordered tens of thousands of residents of the conflict line to leave their homes and go south for defensive purposes. For five weeks now, the absolute majority of the residents of the settlements on the northern border. Tens of thousands of residents who were not ordered to evacuate also left independently so as not to be within close range of Hezbollah.
No sophistication in the action of the IDF
It is clear to everyone that this situation cannot continue. While in the Gaza Strip, the IDF is making progress in ground maneuvers and improving the situation - the rate of Hamas rocket fire has decreased - and even has a goal: the subjugation of the terrorist organization. In the north, the IDF is playing ping-pong with Hezbollah, which is indeed paying a price, but not an insurmountable one.
This pattern of firing in response and attacking terrorists on their way to their destination, and at most attacking ammunition warehouses further from the border - is playing into the hands of Hezbollah, which currently has achieved success in paralyzing the north of the country. The IDF did not show any sophistication in its action and did not hit Hezbollah's sore points, and of course not their most valued: the citizens of Lebanon.
If we don't want to go on a big operation in the north - we have to change the ways of doing things. It seems that the Northern Command lives in the same concepts as the Southern Command before the 7.10. More than five weeks into the fighting and the residents of southern Lebanon are safer than the residents of northern Israel. For some reason the Lebanese have electricity, water, internet, cellular reception and television broadcasts.
One missile from a helicopter at a transformer and high voltage poles at the entrance to the Shiite village will cut off the electricity there for a long period of time. And if the IDF doesn't want to touch electricity - you can always take care of the internet and cell phones - which won't harm the lives of civilians, but will reduce their quality of life. Imagine that right at the time of the Champions League, someone disrupts the broadcasts of the TV stations in the border area. It will even have an even bigger effect, when the nearby Sunni and Christian villages will continue their routine and be able to mock the Shiites who hate them. This will be the best example that Hezbollah is more of a burden than an asset to the residents.
It is possible to bully the residents of Southern Lebanon with dozens of other actions, without harming human life (if that is the driving consideration), but someone needs to think outside the box. Until they let the galloping horses run in a military operation, let the creatives flourish.