The Ground War

An Israeli reserve infantry officer explains what it’s really like to fight Hezbollah on the ground.

WEST GALILEE,

Now, at 38, Taylor is one of the operations officers for the Israeli army's 609th Reserve Infantry, a unit that has already seen plenty of action in south Lebanon, reportedly killing 60 Hezbollah fighters and capturing 10 — so far — without losing a single soldier of its own.

"It's the same Lebanon, it's the same terrain," he says. "The difference is in the quantity and quality of the weapons we face."

Israeli reserve troops are a significant part of the force on the Lebanese border» View

Most deadly for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), Taylor says, is the broad range of anti-tank missiles Hezbollah has acquired, including American-made TOWs, which they buy on the black market.

"Some of the stuff they have is brand new, right out of the box," says Taylor. "We found a weapons cache in Ras Bayada, four TOW anti-tank missiles sitting right next to a launcher. The control box was still wrapped in nylon from its shipping container."

Trained in using the TOW, Taylor says he did the standard seven-point check for launching and within moments the weapon was ready to fire.

He says fighting Hezbollah is anything but straightforward. They are a militia, but have the discipline of a foreign-trained army, which is how the IDF classifies them.

"They're not just a terrorist organization," says General Ido Nehushtan at an IDF briefing in northern Israel Thursday. "They are a terrorist army built by

Those anti-tank missiles have been blamed for the bulk of IDF casualties in southern Lebanon, as Hezbollah fighters have used them both against tanks but also against houses and buildings where IDF forces take shelter.

Taylor says the one tactical area where the IDF has been particularly effective is also the area where they've been the most criticized: Attacks on villages where they believe Hezbollah supplies are stockpiled.

"The villages are used as logistic bases," he says, "but they usually fight from bunkers in outlying areas. They have tunnel systems with camouflaged entry points where they can enter in one place and exit somewhere else. We've been fairly successful at cutting off the supplies from the villages, which forces them to come out eventually."

The way to fight Hezbollah, he says, is to outlast them in a war of nerves.

"The name of the game is patience," says Taylor. "You have to be methodical, moving forward slowly and see who makes the first mistake, then capitalize on it."

At this base in western Galilee, reserve soldiers lay in cots in the operations center catching some sleep between missions. Others play cards outside or, like soldiers all over the world, sit around smoking cigarettes, talking about their lives back home.

Most of them had to leave their work and families behind quickly after getting what's called "Emergency Call Up Order 8," the order that almost instantly transformed them from civilians to soldiers.

IDF spokesman and reservist Manny Socolovsky, who fought with Taylor in the Golani Brigade in the 80s, says that reservists call it "flipping the bowl."

"It's like you have this nice table set," says Socolovsky, "plates and napkins and nice bowls filled with food. Then all of a sudden they're turned upside down and the whole thing is a mess. Like you've pulled out the tablecloth from under it all."

"Emergency Call Up Order 8 — this is a rare animal that is both particular and peculiar to Israeli society," says Taylor. "It's understood they don't use this for superfluous reasons. If you get one, the gravity of it makes the switch for you.

"It's not an easy moment." he says. "It's a defining moment in your life. It will be the difference between everything that came before and everything that came after."

A month into the offensive, Taylor himself looks tired and war-weary.

He has left a job with a multi-national company, a wife and three children back home in Haifa for a life of combat missions in the hills and valleys of south Lebanon and "hot-racking" back at base — sleeping in shifts on whatever cot is available.

Still, he believes the sacrifices are not only worth it, but essential for the preservation of Israel.

"This is like a test case," Taylor says. "[Hezbollah] interprets an open society as a weak society. Our response has to be definitive."

Israeli reserve units: civilians turned soldiers» View

Socolovsky agrees and brings up what Israelis refer to as the "cobweb speech" made by Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah a few years back in the city of Bent Jbail.

"He said Israel was like a cobweb," says Socolovsky, "that it looks like a net, but if you touch it with your hand it falls apart."

The two reservists say Israel can't afford to let that perception go unchallenged.

Socolovsky, like Taylor, is making sacrifices, but his are even more personal. His oldest son is in a combat brigade currently fighting inside Lebanon. As a spokesman, Socolovsky could stay in a hotel room in northern Israel, but chooses to sleep in his car and eats only one meal a day, breakfast, out of a sense of solidarity with his son. He says he would change places with him if he could.

"My wife says she got a [text] message from him today," Socolovksy says. "Now we're both relieved."

It is the kind of anxiety and concern that afflicts all in this conflict, regardless of their role and which side of the border they're on.

"If there's one thing that pains me about all this," says Taylor, becoming circumspect, "it's the fate of the Lebanese people. Medieval-thinking forces have dragged them into this. If they could be masters of their own destiny, I know there would be peace. But instead of progress and enlightenment these forces drag the Lebanese into darkness."

On the roof of the operations center, covered with machine gun and 40mm grenade shell casings, we look across the valley into south Lebanon.

Taylor points out a pile of rubble on a hilltop in Lebanon directly across from us with an Israeli flag flying above it. He says it used to be a Hezbollah command post, which the IDF destroyed when the fighting broke out.

Regardless of that small victory, this war is still on the cusp. As Israel masses tanks, armored personnel carriers and soldiers along the border, it has decided to pause for a few days before committing them to the fight, giving diplomacy one final chance to gain traction.

And even if it does, people like Taylor and Socolovsky may not be going back to their civilian lives anytime soon.

"This is not a war for days or weeks," Nehushtan said during his briefing. "This is a war against terrorism. And since Hezbollah has no responsibilities to any country, you won't see them waving any white flags."

Email Story IM Story

RECOMMEND THIS STORY

Recommend It:

Not at All Somewhat Moderately Highly Very Highly

Average (Not Rated)

ALSO ON YAHOO!