re: Israel–Hamas War Discussion Thread: News Links On First Page

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Israel troops have entered the West Bank tonight as fighting in Jenin has commenced.

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A point on the reserves being called up.

Some of the reserves will be used to augment the main force, but it's not a situation where they need to call everyone up in order to go because they need the bodies.

The reserves, on top of standard support roles, typically fills in the holes left when the main force shifts its focus and launches, so they'll want them in place before kicking things off. The IDF is primarily built for defense, so when they go offensive, they need to backfill all the defensive responsibilities.


One of the big vulnerabilities here is the West Bank. While Israel is occupied with Hamas in Gaza and potentially Hez in the north, things could get extremely nasty if elements inside the West Bank get froggy.

Abbas and the Palestinian Authority operate differently from Hamas (mostly "non violent"), but there are militias all over the place in the WB that can/will do whatever they want whenever they want. (Just because the PA governs the West Bank doesn't necessarily mean they can control everyone in it.)

In other words, the PA/West Bank as a whole could stay out of it, but PIJ or other militia elements could unilaterally run attacks all over the place in the B and C zones.

I think we'll see some of that; the extent of which will largely depend on the resources the IDF and Border Police have in place to prevent it (this ties back into the point about the reserves).

At a minimum, I'll say there will be at least a few opportunistic attacks in the B/C Zones once (if it does) the full scale ground operations have most of the focus shifted elsewhere.

If they're successful, we'll see more. If the IDF/Border Police and other units can keep the lid on it, it may stop there.

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A special operations Marine Corps unit participating in exercises (Kuwait) expected to last through Oct. 22, departed early this week "as a result of emerging events," according to reports

… The day before the exercises began, Oct. 7, Hamas-led militants conducted a deadly surprise attack on Israel, killing at least 22 U.S. citizens, leaving at least 17 still unaccounted for, and some being held hostage in Gaza.

Marine Corps Times reported Wednesday that the sailors and Marines who are part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Kuwait and traveling on the Bataan and Carter Hall, "are no longer in vicinity of Kuwait."

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IDF is still going to abide by ROE, or at least feign an attempt.

Their ROE is a little different than ours, though.

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ROE isn't static. It can vary by overall campaign, theater, and even mission specific. I can't imagine it'll be very tight, considering what started all this and the fact that'll be a second front against an arguably more formidable foe that's not largely contained.

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if their ROE allows them room to work.

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After this I can’t imagine there much room for ROE

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