Free Preview of Members-Only Content
To view the requested intelligence, you must be a Stratfor.com member.
Any Israeli advance into Lebanon will involve the Merkava tank. Whether Hezbollah can slow this advance will depend upon the effectiveness of its land mines and anti-tank missiles.
An Israeli Merkava Mark II tank struck a land mine about 77 yards north of the Israeli-Lebanese border July 12, almost completely destroying the tank. The mine is thought to have contained about 440 to 660 pounds of explosives, and would almost certainly have been shaped to achieve that effect given the amount of explosives used. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sources said even with improved protection, the blast still would have killed the tank's crew.
Nevertheless, the IDF reportedly began attaching steel plates to the underbellies of its Merkava tanks July 23 at an improvised maintenance station north of Avivim. (The underbelly, rear and top are the most vulnerable points in tank armor.) Named for the Hebrew word for chariot, the Merkava was designed from the ground up after the 1967 war, with crew survival as the highest priority, since a well-trained tank crew is far more valuable than a tank.
| Stratfor Members, please log in at the top left hand corner |
