BACK TO BASICS: A Study of the Second Lebanon War and Operation CAST LEAD

The Israeli incursions into Lebanon in mid-2006 and into Gaza in late
2008/early 2009 are important studies in contrasts. During the first, often
termed “the Second Lebanon War,” Hezbollah fought Israeli Defense Forces
(IDF) seeking hostage rescue and retribution to a bloody standstill. During the
second, Hamas enjoyed far less success against the same forces avowedly in
pursuit of only self-defense.
These and other differences notwithstanding, the two conflicts are both
similar and linked in several important respects. Each witnessed protagonists
that were anxious—even desperate—to win prestige and demonstrate the capacity
to safeguard survival. Each also confronted a conventional armed force
with antagonists, Hezbollah and Hamas, which are possible prototypes for the
non-state adversaries the US could face in the future. Moreover, each conflict
witnessed the successful prosecution of information operations in ways that
highlighted the importance of the “new media” in contemporary war. At the
same time, the conflicts were linked intellectually, to the extent that the IDF
studied lessons learned from the first, especially in the realm of information
operations, to condition planning and application for the second.
The current work metaphorically extends IDF lessons learned to distill insights
from the two conflicts for the education of US Army leaders. Produced
in a short period of time, this anthology represents the collaborative effort of
several organizations, including CAC’s Center for Army Lessons Learned, the
Combat Studies Institute, the US Army’s Information Operations Proponent,
the Command and General Staff College, and TRADOC’s Intelligence Support
Activity. Relying on a mixture of primary and secondary materials from a
variety of sources and agencies, the authors have combined multiple perspectives
under the roof of a single unclassified study. Like the classics, it reaffirms
the importance of basics and constant introspection as important prerequisites
for military success.