Israel-Hizballah-Syria:Lessons from the Last War, Preventing the Next One
Oct 20, 2007
In-Depth Reports
On October 20, 2007, Nicholas Blanford and Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky addressed The Washington Institute's Weinberg Founders Conference. The following is a summary of their remarks.
In a civil but spirited debate, Nicholas Blanford, a Beirut correspondent who has spent much of his time reporting and following Hizballah, and Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, the recently retired deputy chief of staff for the Israel Defense Forces, discussed the summer 2006 Israel-Hizballah war and its lessons. Both Blanford and Kaplinsky vividly described the situation on the ground in Lebanon and Israel prior to the war. Blanford went into detail about the Hizballah rearmament since the war and about the activities of the UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon. Kaplinsky was more optimistic about Israel's prospects at countering Hizballah. While they offered different perspectives on the past events, they both spoke of the more-than-likely round two: while both sides do not want another conflict, the current trends suggest it is just a matter of time.
A full summary of this session can be found in the Weinberg Founders Conference proceedings, available as a free PDF download from the Washington Institute bookstore.
