"Shraga ambushed, Jackie was killed in the camp. The deaths of the comrades are the scar of war"

The maneuvers in the depths of the field, the sniper fire in the streets and the brothers for the weapons he lost.

Defense Minister Bnei Gantz goes back to the days when there was a young officer who commanded a company in the Lebanese mud, and also talks about the lessons learned from the war: "To defeat the enemy one must fight together" |

Special interview

Amir Bohbot

02/06/2022

Thursday, 02 June 2022, 09:36 Updated: 13:25

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When the war bell rang, Defense Secretary Benny Gantz was at the height of a visit to the United States.

Then, in late 1982, he finished his job as a company commander in the Paratroopers Brigade and flew to a prestigious commando course in one of the special units of the United States Army - the "Green Berets".

When the war broke out, he returned to Israel directly to the Lebanese swamp.

Ganz, then a young officer, took over a company that included a fighter platoon from the 50th Battalion, an armored platoon, a Vulcan platoon from the air defense system, two 155mm cannons and a tractor that accompanied the engineering activity. A year later, a Hezbollah production line was exposed at the same stadium for precise missiles. "We drove north under fire threats, it was in the air while we were crossing the street."

"It was not a prepared space for fighting as I see it today after decades."

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To the full article

Watch the interview with Defense Minister Bnei Gantz

In the video: Defense Minister Ganz in an interview with Amir Bohbot to mark the 40th anniversary of the First Lebanon War (Photo: Yotam Ronen, IDF and Defense Archives, report, Yizkor website, Reuters and Bnei Ganz's Facebook page, graphic design: Tomer Perlands and video editing: Amit Berkowitz)

For much of his service in the war, Ganz stayed in Jabal Baruch, northeast of Sidon.

Many battles took place around the mountain, which disturbed the pastoral serenity of the nature reserve in which it is located.

"I ended up blowing up all the facilities left on the mountain," he recalled.

"The sabotage squad moved from facility to facility and building after building. I told myself I would not leave here with all the explosives we had left, so we blew it all up. I knew that with these quantities, if we snatched RPG there would be nothing left of us. Then "I withdrew with the convoy through the eastern part to Metula and then we settled in the security zone. At the outposts. In what is called a red line."

The scar left by the war

In the past 40 years, the young officer has climbed the ladder of ranks - up to the coveted Chief of Staff's throne. Today, he sits as defense minister. Lebanese soil.

"In the company I commanded, Yaakov Jackie Saban was killed in the al-Uza'i camp," he recalled.

Later in the ambush, Shraga Katz killed us.

Losing friends is the most significant thing.

Major Tuval (Tuli) Gvirtsman did a course with me and "fell and fell at the airport in Beirut."

"You have to go to war when you have no choice and when you understand what you want and what you can achieve politically and militarily," Ganz said, and not by chance.

The marking of the targets has been mentioned many times by the commissions of inquiry, at the conclusion of the subsequent military clashes.

"Before going into battle, we need to plan when and how to do it. Ehud Barak did it wisely when he said the simple sentence 'if good for what we will get out - and if bad how we will get out'. Then he educated and pulled us out in May 2000, the date of withdrawal from Lebanon."

"Preliminary intelligence is needed."

Fire on Lebanon border last summer (Photo: Reuters, Karamallah Daher)

The entanglement in the Lebanese mud, which has been defined by many as a war of choice, continues to throw the security elite into the question of the lessons learned.

The same issues resonated even more during the Second Lebanon War - six years after Israel left its territory.

"Preliminary intelligence and combat intelligence are needed during the fighting itself to complete the picture," Ganz said of the days of the first Lebanon war.

Further emphasized the need for joint work of combat teams.

"No one alone is good enough. Not the Air Force alone, not the infantry alone.

In the end, you need combined combat and do not lose your tactical trick in order to defeat the enemy. "

A key figure mentioned by Ganz during the war is Ya, Maj.

"He realized that he was not just going to Beirut like that and to save us battles he made a longer way east, through about eighty-eight," he said.

"We came to Beirut with far fewer fights, or overly comfortable fights for him."

The enemy in the north

40 years later, relative calm prevails on the northern border.

Behind it, far beyond the observation posts established by Hezbollah, which is engulfed in an economic and political crisis, Lebanon is subject to interventions by Tehran.

"I hope we are not required to go to war again," Ganz said.

"If that happens - it will not be easy - but Israel will win it. 40 years later I think the Lebanon War is actually the almost last war in which we maneuvered into the area. In the meantime, our enemy has changed. He fortified himself inside the area. "Very large. Therefore, our combat objectives are to deprive capabilities, to deter, to harm. We are looking at a space that even after 40 years is much more urban, much more dense. Fortified and ready for combat."

He stressed that the army is refining the fighting to defeat the enemies and in particular that of Lebanon which has advanced and improved since those days of fighting.

"We need to pull the enemy out of its holes in order to successfully destroy it and advance," he said.

"It is a hidden enemy that has very significant capabilities and the way we will achieve security today is completely different from the days of battle then."

The capabilities, he said, have changed: from the lone soldier to the combat, armament, fire, aircraft, ICT, intelligence and cyber systems.

"It all just wasn't there," he said.

These, he says, will enable the victory in such a future campaign.

"An enemy changes."

Hezbollah operative operates skimmer, January (Photo: IDF Spokesman)

"We live in a geopolitical environment and forever we will have to maintain our security at the highest possible level," he added.

"The IDF is ready for war.

While we are talking about the IDF in the midst of an ongoing exercise in which the fighters and units are practicing all these situations. Lebanon must bear the state responsibility if and when war breaks out. I look with heavy responsibility at the issue of readiness of forces. Commander-in-Chief.

20 years later, I come as Defense Minister to the same command.

The buildings are the same, but the environment is different - this thing has to be constantly adjusted to meet the task. "

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