After another escalation on the northern front against Hezbollah, when yesterday (Wednesday) about 30 rockets were launched into Kiryat Shmona, resulting in the death of one person and the wounding of another, Nissim Mashal and Tal Shalu discussed the situation on 103fm with Col. (ret.) Kobi Marom, an expert for national security and the northern arena, who resigned.
"As a resident of the north, I feel that the cabinet has literally lost the north," declared Marom at the beginning of the conversation. "We have been in a war of attrition for six months, and it is not going anywhere. We are in a clear strategic blunder - there is a political directive to the IDF and the use of fire that fails to push Hezbollah and create the conditions for the return of the residents. Name?"
He also claimed that "there is a limited war of attrition here. The cabinet, the war cabinet, has not discussed the situation in the north at all in recent weeks. There is no longer a central effort by the IDF in the south, the threat in the north is many times greater. We must create a concentration of effort, increase the fire, even if we give a chance to the diplomatic effort, it will affect the negotiations. The American figure is a very important factor in the complexity of the arena. We are six months later, there is no revival cabinet in the north, the damage is many times greater than in the south. It is unfathomable, this is a complete neglect of things. The crisis and the rift with the USA, it has consequences for the whole arena, certainly for the northern one. The Americans don't want a regional war or a war in the north, and the US is the one that needs to replenish the air force's stocks. That's why this crisis is very problematic for the IDF's ability to be ready in this campaign and surely solve the problem."
Photo from the scene of the rocket strike in Kiryat Shmona March 27, 2024/TPS, Erez Ben Simon
In addition, Marom wanted to emphasize that the chance for the diplomatic effort will be given, even though he himself does not believe that Hezbollah will honor any agreement that is signed. "Israel must take the initiative in the north, define goals, we must lower the level of the flames with the Americans, enter into an intimate dialogue with them. We need the United States fully, certainly if we have to enter into a limited war. There is a very acute crisis of confidence in the north of the leadership and the residents, many of them no longer want to return. The continuation of this war and the lack of Israeli initiative are causing a very acute crisis. That's why the cabinet must take the initiative."
"I think that Israel already weeks ago should have moved the effort to the north, increased the attacks on Hezbollah along the line of contact. For example, expel tens of thousands of Shiites who created pressure on the government and Hezbollah in Beirut. These are things that could have been done as levers on Hezbollah, it was not done. The fact that within this complex strategic reality, the government, the least it needs to do is embrace the residents of the north, this is not happening either. It exacerbates the difficult feeling," he concluded.
More on the same topic:
Kiryat Shmona
Hezbollah
War of Iron Swords