Military Analysis and History

  THE MYTH OF ISRAELI INVINCIBILITY. PART VI 1978 – Intervention in Lebanon              In 1973, after the Yom Kippur War, Israel already possessed clear military superiority over its Arab neighbors. The defeat suffered and the heavy losses within the Arab coalition guaranteed this reality. The superiority was reflected in the trump cards it consistently held or had regained: strong US support, highly effective intelligence services, air power, and the tactics of (blitzkrieg). Technological superiority was not yet evident.         Israel’s security was already very solid compared to the 1950s and 1960s. Peace negotiations were underway with Egypt. Jordan no longer posed a problem. Syria remained the only neighboring state enemy, but it was far from having the capacity to launch any military campaign against Israel. Other enemies still existed—namely Iraq and Libya—but they were not in a position to act directly. What remained ...