The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) face a unique, unenviable quandary: whether to participate in a war that engulfs their homeland. The LAF’s absence on the front line could be interpreted by some Lebanese citizens as dereliction of duty. Meanwhile, participation would mean backing Hezbollah in the war, which could threaten the LAF’s own relationship with its benefactors in the West.
By Anchal Vohra, a columnist at *Foreign Policy*.
TheJacques on
The LAF dont have the manpower or resources to fight off Hasnoballs but after Israel either completely finishes off or reduces Hasnoballs abilities to a schoolyard bully, the LAF have a special opportunity take over and ensure Hasnoballs doesn’t return nor allow Lebanon to become a breading grounds for terrorism.
Special_marshmallow on
The Lebanese army will soon start killing each other as the inevitable civil war resurfaces
IronyElSupremo on
Syria along with Hebz kept them weak and more of a peacekeeping force among internal factions.
Their tank force is Vietnam War era .. some ex- US M48 tanks and some more ex-Soviet T-72s. They’ve probably got almost zero logistics. What kind of bonehead writes these articles without knowing something about military weapons systems?
Outside-Pool-28 on
Nope for multiple reasons, mainly the following:
– if the army goes into this, then Israel will consider all of Lebanon involved and will start bombing all areas not like what’s happening now
– the Lebanese army mainly gets its funding and weapons from the USA and France. Mostly they give them old stuff and what’s left from old useless things that they don’t use anymore so they are way behind the Israeli army.
– The above countries and others don’t supply the army with good stuff so that the Lebanese army will never be able to pose a threat to Israel
Kahzootoh on
The Lebanese army probably won’t get involved unless the IDF starts to make progress deep into Lebanon that threatens to topple the state. They don’t have much in term of air defense, so their ability to contest Israeli airspace violations isn’t really feasible- but if an Israeli column crosses the Litani River and is driving towards Beirut, that is more likely to provoke a response.
The Lebanese army is generally regarded as neutral in internal Lebanese affairs, which is why it probably won’t fight alongside Hezbollah unless there is a political consensus in Lebanon- and plenty of Lebanese don’t agree with Hezbollah’s actions that they regard as excessively provocative towards Israel.
The real question is whether or not the Israeli invasion is so destructive that those who blame Hezbollah prioritize ejecting the Israelis over punishing Hezbollah by having them fight alone.
Psychological-Flow55 on
No, the longer this Israeli operation goes on, it risk opening up old and new wounds/tensions between the shia, sunnis, Assyrians, maronites, melkites, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Palestinans, Communist and socialist factions, Druze, Alawites (there very small pockets in Lebanon around Tripoli that have had on and off tensions with sunnis), etc. In Lebanon
Hezbollah actually long term is cooked by thinking weakening the Lebanese Army and disregarding UN resolutions 1599, and 1701 harming Lebanon and inviting the Israeli airstrikes, assassinations and invasions.
7 Comments
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) face a unique, unenviable quandary: whether to participate in a war that engulfs their homeland. The LAF’s absence on the front line could be interpreted by some Lebanese citizens as dereliction of duty. Meanwhile, participation would mean backing Hezbollah in the war, which could threaten the LAF’s own relationship with its benefactors in the West.
By Anchal Vohra, a columnist at *Foreign Policy*.
The LAF dont have the manpower or resources to fight off Hasnoballs but after Israel either completely finishes off or reduces Hasnoballs abilities to a schoolyard bully, the LAF have a special opportunity take over and ensure Hasnoballs doesn’t return nor allow Lebanon to become a breading grounds for terrorism.
The Lebanese army will soon start killing each other as the inevitable civil war resurfaces
Syria along with Hebz kept them weak and more of a peacekeeping force among internal factions.
Their tank force is Vietnam War era .. some ex- US M48 tanks and some more ex-Soviet T-72s. They’ve probably got almost zero logistics. What kind of bonehead writes these articles without knowing something about military weapons systems?
Nope for multiple reasons, mainly the following:
– if the army goes into this, then Israel will consider all of Lebanon involved and will start bombing all areas not like what’s happening now
– the Lebanese army mainly gets its funding and weapons from the USA and France. Mostly they give them old stuff and what’s left from old useless things that they don’t use anymore so they are way behind the Israeli army.
– The above countries and others don’t supply the army with good stuff so that the Lebanese army will never be able to pose a threat to Israel
The Lebanese army probably won’t get involved unless the IDF starts to make progress deep into Lebanon that threatens to topple the state. They don’t have much in term of air defense, so their ability to contest Israeli airspace violations isn’t really feasible- but if an Israeli column crosses the Litani River and is driving towards Beirut, that is more likely to provoke a response.
The Lebanese army is generally regarded as neutral in internal Lebanese affairs, which is why it probably won’t fight alongside Hezbollah unless there is a political consensus in Lebanon- and plenty of Lebanese don’t agree with Hezbollah’s actions that they regard as excessively provocative towards Israel.
The real question is whether or not the Israeli invasion is so destructive that those who blame Hezbollah prioritize ejecting the Israelis over punishing Hezbollah by having them fight alone.
No, the longer this Israeli operation goes on, it risk opening up old and new wounds/tensions between the shia, sunnis, Assyrians, maronites, melkites, Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Palestinans, Communist and socialist factions, Druze, Alawites (there very small pockets in Lebanon around Tripoli that have had on and off tensions with sunnis), etc. In Lebanon
Hezbollah actually long term is cooked by thinking weakening the Lebanese Army and disregarding UN resolutions 1599, and 1701 harming Lebanon and inviting the Israeli airstrikes, assassinations and invasions.