Israeli losses mount as its Lebanon blitzkrieg grinds to a bloody halt

Amin Qudsi

Israel’s blitzkrieg into southern Lebanon is mired in a firestorm of ambushes and unpredictable attacks by drones and missiles as their stormtroopers continue taking heavy casualties in the hilly countryside.

And as military helicopters are transferring casualties to hospitals following clashes in Khiam in southern Lebanon Tuesday, the resistance said they had killed 90 officers and soldiers and wounded about 750 others since the ground operation began.

“This tally excludes the Israeli enemy’s losses in military bases, sites, barracks, and settlements,” they said.

Heavy clashes occurred overnight, with a Merkava tank destroyed, as the Lawnmowers tried to establish a new infiltration route from the border town of Kfar Kila to Khiam in the northeast, but were caught in a deadly ambush. Earlier, defenders in Kfar Kila repelled an attempt to take the town as the Lawnmowers tried to advance with a concerted push by armoured vehicles and infantry.

“Resistance fighters armed with light weapons and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers ambushed the force, setting two military vehicles ablaze and killing and injuring several Israeli soldiers,” Al-Mayadeen reports.

Since the start of Israel’s Lebanon invasion, resistance sources say they have destroyed 39 Merkava tanks, four bulldozers, a Humvee, an armoured personnel carrier, and an armoured vehicle.

The vulnerability of the Merkava to shoulder-fired missiles has the Israeli generals tearing their hair out. While military websites tend to rate the Merkava highly – its is Israel’s main battle tank – it doesn’t seem to be pulling its weight in Lebanon.

We see plenty of resistance videos claiming to have destroyed tanks with shoulder-fired missiles, but we rarely see the forensic aftermath to assess the actual damage done. But their claims that they are destroying the tanks, not just immobilising them, is borne out by Israel’s continuing inability to make any significant inroads into the Lebanon countryside.

While National Interest extols its advanced sensors and electronic warfare capabilities, enhanced with “an artificial intelligence system”, its protecting armour seems to be vulnerable, particularly, from the sides, behind and on top.

Certainly, the Merkava, despite all it supposed advantages, isn’t providing Israel with a penetrative ability to push further into Lebanon.

The balance of power has traditionally belonged to Israel in the air, but Hezbollah’s drones and missiles are shifting that too. Israel doesn’t seem to have a defence against Hezbollah’s drones that relentlessly menace Israel’s vulnerable towns, where air raid sirens now routinely pierce the air on a daily basis.

Drones are now hitting Tel Aviv’s southern suburbs, 145km from the Lebanese border.

On Monday, drones attacked Israeli troops in Zar’it, Aitaroun, and Kfar Giladi as well the Ras al-Naqoura naval base, “causing confirmed casualties”.

Artillery rockets also targeted stormtroopers twice around Manara and Margiliot, and thrice in Kfar Kila as well as Al-Fatima Gate, the Kiryat Shmona settlement, near al-Wazani village. Many other targets also came under fire.

Hezbollah says the have shot down three Israeli Hermes 450 drones and one Hermes 900 drone, while their air force had launched 150 drones of various types and sizes into Israel.