February 2019 The Security Times – Challenges 19 PICTURE ALLIANCE / REUTERS

BY GISELA DACHS

t’s nothing new for Iran and Israel to find themselves Ion a collision course. In the past, confrontations between these two countries – including cyberattacks, Israeli intelligence operations and Iran-sponsored terrorist attacks abroad – were often spectacular, but almost always covert. At the moment, however, we are seeing confron- tations increasingly carried out in the open, for all to see. For example, direct military clashes took place on Feb. 10, 2018, on May 10, 2018 and on Jan. 21, 2019, roughly 1,500 kilometers from Tehran. Of course, the setting in each case was Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad – with help from Counterstrike: Chief of General Staff Gadi Eizenkot (right; talking to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu) in 2015 admitted to having Iran and Russia – is now emerg- carried out thousands of attacks on Iranian arms transports and military facilities in Syria over the past four years. ing triumphant from the civil war. Today, in a strategic envi- ronment that has been funda- mentally transformed since 2011, all actors in the region are jock- eying to establish new positions. War and non-war For example, Iran has signifi- cantly expanded its influence in Syria and is eager to have a say in As long as civil war in Syria continues, neither Israel nor Iran can have an interest in escalating rebuilding the country’s future. the conflict between their two countries. And yet, the conflict has already taken on a sinister tone According to the argument put forth by Tehran, Iran’s presence in the region is legitimate, seeing as it comes at the request of the the beginning of this year, how- Lebanon. Today, Hezbollah deterrence and thus to prevent recently caught planning attacks Russian bases. Since then, Russia government in Damascus. Israel ever, the outgoing Chief of Gen- already has an arsenal of roughly war. The Israeli Air Force’s free- in Denmark and France. has pursued a double strategy, considers this to be mere pretext eral Staff Gadi Eizenkot officially 130,000 missiles that could easily dom to attack is based on the In keeping with a tacit US-Rus- on the one hand it condemns and accuses Tehran of seeking admitted to having carried out reach Tel Aviv. Last September, assumption that – at least as long sian agreement, it is up to Russia Israeli airstrikes on Syria, on the only to expand its power and to thousands of airstrikes on Ira- Israeli Prime Minister Benja- as the civil war in Syria is not to make sure that the Iranian and other it assures Israel that it will achieve a position from which it nian arms transports and mili- min Netanyahu presented to the officially over – none of the par- Shi’ite militias in Syria stay at guarantee its security. can attack its “Zionist archen- tary facilities in Syria over the UN General Assembly a map of ties to that conflict has an inter- least 80 kilometers away from Still, things could easily get emy” from three directions in past four years. This new open- Beirut that showed where Ira- est in yet another confrontation. the Israeli border. In practice, out of control. What’s more, the the future. ness can be interpreted primar- nian weapons factories were The new strategy of openness however, this has not worked. In electoral campaign has just got If that were the case, Israel ily as a warning designed to be thought to be located. Three is quite controversial in Israel. November, Israeli media revealed underway in Israel, and it would would be forced to deal on its heard loud and clear in Tehran. days later, when diplomats went What is not at all controver- that Syria had stationed roughly not be the first time external northern border not only with Jerusalem wants to send out the to inspect these sites, they found sial is the assessment that Teh- 10,000 soldiers at its borders actors attempted to influence Syria but also with the Leba- message that Iran’s entrench- nothing – that is, nothing left. ran’s aspirations to hegemony with Iraq and Israel and that the Israeli voting behavior in Israel nese Hezbollah, a militia heav- ment along its neighbor to the Still, Tehran makes no secret have long since become some- newly created divisions would by launching military attacks. ily armored by Tehran. On its north crosses a red line, and that about its efforts to supply its thing that other parts of the be trained by officers of the Al- This makes the situation even southern border in Gaza, it Israel will seek at all costs to pre- henchmen with the most state- world should be worried about. Quds Brigades, a special unit more unpredictable. would have to continue to deal vent an Iranian corridor of influ- of-the-art military equipment From the very beginning, there of the Iranian Revolutionary with Hamas, the Islamist move- ence – one that would stretch available. As Supreme National was much criticism that Iran’s Guards. ment supported by Iran. In other from Tehran across Iraq, Syria, Security Council Secretary Ali thirst for power could not be A first collision of interests words, with Tehran closer than Lebanon and all the way to the Shamkhani recently noted, Iran restrained by the nuclear deal. In between Russia and Israel GISELA DACHS ever before, Jerusalem is deter- Mediterranean. is continuing to deliver preci- addition to the supply of state- occurred after a Russian Ily- was a long-time Israel-based mined to keep it at a distance by There is also great concern sion weapons to militias in Leba- of-the-art weapons technology ushin IL-20 aircraft was shot correspondent for the German weekly Die Zeit. She is now a regularly and heavily attacking that the striking force of pro- non and Gaza so that they can and funds for its henchmen in down over Syrian territory in senior lecturer at the European Iranian targets in Syria. Iranian militias could increase. unleash an “inferno” in response Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza, the late September 2018, an incident Forum and the DAAD Center Until now, all of this happened Israel recently destroyed six to “any foolish Israeli behavior.” agreement also involves Iranian Moscow blamed on Israel. After for German Studies at Hebrew without Israel ever having to Hezbollah tunnels that had This new Israeli transparency activities in Europe. For exam- that, Israeli attacks continued, University in Jerusalem. admit to its military strikes. At been dug below the border in is no doubt designed to act as a ple, Iranian intelligence was yet no longer in the vicinity of

The Israeli defense Military success in the age of terrorist armies hinges on public education, too

Our High Level Military Group pitals as well as civilian hous- of troops post-conflict in some in clear contrast to the global own standards adhere to and, in BY RAFAEL L. BARDAJÍ of senior retired military per- ing as bases, weapons stores countries has compounded their campaign of propaganda against some cases, also exceed appli- AND DAVIS LEWIN sonnel from ten democratic and command and control cen- uncertainty over whether our the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), cable laws. nations, including the former ters. Advances in communica- nations will continue to stand the country has developed the We have reached a point where emocratic nations German, Italian and Canadian tions technology have also had a behind them as they seek to most sophisticated mechanisms our terrorist enemies fight constrain their militar- chiefs of the defense staff, has major impact on the fight against defend us. of any democracy to prevent without any restraints, yet our Dies in line with a moral examined this challenging new irregular and terrorist adversar- Yet the militaries of all the the loss of civilian life when it own soldiers are placed in ever code developed over centu- reality through the lens of their ies, who often display a highly democracies we examined in fights adversaries such as Hamas, greater danger while having to ries, forged in the face of the own operational experience. We developed ability to exploit detail go to great lengths to which hides behind civilians in worry ever more about the legiti- horrors of war and enshrined studied Israel’s military opera- social and traditional media in avoid civilian casualties by using Gaza, and Hezbollah, which has macy of their military actions. in the Law of Armed Conflict. tions in Gaza, the West Bank and order to influence the battle over strict rules of engagement and worked with Iran to capture Leb- Our conclusion: We must edu- However, recent history has Lebanon, as well as campaigns political narratives with real stra- command and control in the anon and turn the entire south- cate our publics about the mili- shown that much of the fight- by Western and allied militaries tegic effect. As such, ill-informed face of terror armies. In many ern border of that country into a tary, strategic, political and, ing Western armies and their in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, political and social narratives, cases, the measures employed military enclave hidden in plain above, all moral realities of our democratic allies have had to Mali and Pakistan’s Federally particularly where enemy mes- to protect civilians constitute sight among innocent civilians. actions. engage in has been against Administered Tribal Areas. sages meet receptive amplifiers a grave tactical disadvantage Israeli tactics to preserve civil- adversaries who abuse these Adversaries in these conflicts in our own civic arenas, inflict on the battlefield and go above ian life exceed similar attempts rules purposefully for battle- all share an approach to warfare serious harm on the ability to the requirements of the law of by other democratic nations field gains. This is particu- that has war crimes built into its prevail in such conflicts. armed conflict. because they are based on RAFAEL L. BARDAJÍ larly prominent in relation to basic premises. The deliberate International institutions and Nowhere is this clearer than in battlefield intelligence resources is the former national security advisor of Spain and the hybrid terrorist armies making failure to distinguish between human rights organizations also the case of Israel, a nation slan- that other militaries cannot director of the Friends of Israel unlawful tactical and strate- combatants and civilians, plac- too often engage in misleading dered so widely that its allies match in the war zones in which Initiative. gic gains through the abuse of ing them at the center of military or politicized narratives around in Europe are nearly as reticent they are called upon to operate. DAVIS LEWIN civilians and the special pro- operations and thus exploiting core concepts of warfare and as its traditional adversaries in Military commanders from other is the director of the High tections they are afforded. In the protections Western militar- international law, while govern- the Arab world to admit that democratic nations would thus Level Military Group and the many cases, the enemy sees ies will adhere to, is a studied ments fail to assert to their pub- it needs its world-class intelli- be gravely concerned if the stan- managing director of the civilian deaths as a tactical tactic. They use human shields, lics what such warfare entails. gence and technological assis- dards Israel sets become custom- Strategic Alliances Network. success. protected locations such as hos- The unwarranted legal pursuit tance. Yet our work shows that ary norms, no matter that their