Israeli Tanks Misused In Lebanon
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - Testimony being gathered from Israeli ground commanders ahead of government probes into the handling of the Lebanon war suggest Israel's tanks were used in a negligent manner against the Hezbollah enemy, The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday. While only 22 out of the 400 tanks deployed to Lebanon were penetrated by the thousands of anti-tank missiles fired by Hezbollah, Israel's Merkava is generally regarded as the best-protected tank in the world, making the loss of some 30 tank crew members unacceptable. A senior officer involved in the investigation told the Post that the Merkava's "outer shield proved to be effective in stopping many of the missiles, but there were many other systems aboard the tanks that were not used and for no clear reason." One example given was the Merkava's unused ability to create a smokescreen to throw off the targeting mechanism of laser-guided anti-tank missiles. The officer surmised that the tank commanders' relatively small amount of hands-on experience with the Merkava was one of the primary factors contributing to the negligent use of the sophisticated tanks. "All of the brigades have spent the past year operating in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and mostly without tanks," he noted. The Post reported that the Israel Defense Forces is now more interested than ever in outfitting its top-line tank |
