1. Firstly, the rapid recovery by the IDF and the civilian population.
These recovered within hours, and by October 8, the army and volunteer civilian organizations in all fields were already up and running. The IDF began conducting an organized war to repel Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists still within Israeli territory and volunteer organizations started taking care of evacuees and the reservists who mobilized in droves, mostly without being drafted. They simply showed up.
In the first hours and days, the government and its leader weren’t functioning at all, or very partially, and they weren’t responding to the needs of those under attack. At the same time, the IDF felt that Hezbollah would exploit the momentum of Hamas’s success, and also try storming the Galilee and that attention and available IDF forces would have to be divided between the two sectors.
All this occurred within days. Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists were repelled back to the Gaza Strip and started receiving aerial bombardments and artillery fire. Three, primarily reservist, divisions were deployed on the northern border, from the mountainous Hermon thickets and Har Dov across to Rosh Hanikra in the west. They positioned themselves in defensive formations, protecting Israel from a northern version of the October 7 massacre.
I believe the IDF and civilian population’s rapid recovery is far and away this past year’s best achievement. This is what prevented a serious disaster and the slow collapse of the State of Israel. Military theory states that, after absorbing a surprise attack in which the enemy penetrates lines of defense, the defensive army retreats to a second line and prepares for containment. But there was no second line on October 7.
The civilian communities were at the front and Israel managed to stop the Hamas attack and avert much worse results along the border.
2. The ground operation above and below ground in Gaza, in which the IAF, special forces units together brought about the dismantling of Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s fighting force.
Out of 23 Hamas battalions, only one or two remain in the central camps, where Israel is not operating due to the assessment that most of the hostages are there are two million displaced Gazans living in “open shelters” in the area.
The IDF doesn’t control the entire Gaza Strip, but can move to any area it chooses within hours, sometimes minutes. It can also gather intelligence and deter Hamas military organization almost unimpeded.
A static presence in the area could still expose IDF forces to anti-tank missiles and devices left by Hamas as part of guerilla warfare. Rocket fire, however, even mortar shelling, into Israel has almost completely stopped. Hamas has, effectively, ceased being an immediate threat to Israel’s residents as it was before October 7.
Hamas tunnel in which six hostages were murdered by terrorists
(Video: Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
3. The dramatic reversal of the Israel-Hezbollah power balance as part of “Operation Northern Arrows.”
The intelligence community, IAF and Northern Command managed to land a series of precision shocks on all Hezbollah power components, believed to have destroyed over half its capabilities of endangering the Israelis in the Northern Galilee in particular, and Israel’s home front in general.
These shocking moves, based on precise intelligence provided by the intelligence community were ready for operation some time ahead. They were implemented at the right time, after the weight of the fighting force had been transferred from Gaza where, as mentioned good security control has been achieved.
4. Repelling April 13-14 and October 1 Iranian attacks.
Primarily the first practical realization of Israeli-American operational collaboration that proved extremely effective in whose framework, practical infrastructure was laid for a regional defense coalition against the Shiite axis.
5. IDF Central Command, in aggressive operation, managed to avert, at this stage, a third Intifada in Judea and Samaria
There have been terrorist attacks, mainly on roads, in and around Jewish communities, but the IDF has raided refugee camps, harming the battalions inside them (with the help of the Air Force and the Yamam Counter-Terrorism Unit) and has managed to maintain an almost normal fabric of life, reducing terrorist attacks, and preventing them from spilling over to within the Green Line.
6. Restoring Israel's and the IDF's general deterrence in the region, particularly against the Iran-led axis.
This deterrence, greatly eroded October 7, has been restored thanks to the surprise operations and cognitive blows the intelligence community and the IDF landed on Hezbollah in Lebanon, no less than dismantling Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza. The terrible destruction in Gaza, resulting from fighting terrorists from within a civilian population, and the use of explosive devices, constitutes a deterrent to the same extent that it causes public and political to Israel across the world.
Deterring the Iranian attack, which produced no results, alongside achievement in the north, has not only restored deterrence but raised it a notch compared to before. Until then, deterrence had been localized, against the countries surrounding us.
We’re now talking about regional deterrence with even global implications. The IAF’s surprise attacks in Lebanon have proven how good we are on the offensive. And repelling 200 ballistic missiles on October 1 proves we’re a defense powerhouse too. But we shouldn’t be resting on our laurels.
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