The *FREE ARAB VOICE*
July 8, 2000

In this issue of the Free Arab Voice (FAV) we bring you:

1) The Lessons of South Lebanon II: The Military Strategy of the Lebanese
Resistance, by Rashid Wadi.

2) 'On Pragmatists and Freedom Fighters', a comment by the Free Arab Voice

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About this issue of FAV:

In the first part of the Lessons of South Lebanon series, we featured
Nassrallah's recommendations to Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and the
oppressed everywhere (see elsewhere on FAV's website).

In this part, we look more closely at the military strategy adopted by the
Lebanese resistance against the invader, and the Zionist strategy to preempt
that resistance.   The analysis is written up by Rashid Wadi, a former
Palestinian officer who saw many years of combat in Lebanon, and many years
of the inside of a Jordanian prison cell.  As a member of the steering
committee of the Association against Zionism and Racism (AZAR), Rashid Wadi
was part of the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to visit South Lebanon to
relay the jubilation of the people of Jordan to Lebanon and the Lebanese
resistance.  Subsequently Rashid Wadi was lightly injured yet again in the
Lebanese South when Zionist troops opened fire last month on the Jordanian
delegation at Fatima's Gate.

Read on his comments below.

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1) The Lessons of South Lebanon II:
On The Military Strategy of The Lebanese Resistance, by Rashid Wadi

Don't Seek Strategic Parity before Starting to Fight
====================================================
Right from the start, Hizbullah and the other resistance groups in South
Lebanon adopted a clear and specific strategy to achieve liberation, namely,
the practice of armed struggle against the invader until the last inch of
occupied Lebanese land is liberated.  As always, this strategy must begin
with identifying the points of weakness of the Zionist enemy and its points
of strength, as well as the points of strength and weakness of the
resistance itself.  Needless to say, Hizbullah made great use of the
experiences, successes, failures of other liberation movements elsewhere.

The leadership of the Lebanese resistance, upon realizing that Zionists
possess a huge arsenal of weaponry as well as overwhelming superiority in
military technology, resolved that it can not and should not try to keep up
with or outpace the enemy in those two areas.  The attempt would have been
futile, as the experiences of conventional Arab armies have demonstrated
amply.  However, the leadership of the resistance also resolved that
liberation CANNOT WAIT until strategic parity in the conventional sense is
achieved.

This meant that this strategic imbalance had to be compensated for through
the practice of an old/new military tactic that was used successfully by
many others before in the Third World, i.e., long-term people's war and
guerilla warfare.   [Notice that Arab regimes cannot rely on people's war
because they do not embody the will of the people, whereas the nature of the
conflict with Zionism dictates that a movement for liberation must be a
popular movement - FAV].

Pit Your Points of Strength against Their Points of Weakness
============================================================
When the balance of power is tilting in favor of the enemy, and one
can not wait until the odds change in the conventional sense, guerilla
warfare can be used to prevent the invader from settling in comfortably.
Contact must be initiated and perpetuated to disturb formations and
interrupt supply lines, with special emphasis on depleting the enemy's human
reserves over the long haul.   This can be accomplished by moving quickly
and continuously, while picking targets carefully and striking at them
accurately, in order to maximize enemy casualties then disappear promptly.
Eventually this leads to the total demoralization of the invader who begins
to feel that he is trying in vain to fight intangible spirits who can
inflict very tangible harm.

The heroic Lebanese resistance succeeded superbly in practicing this
stupendous military tactic.  In the beginning, the Lebanese resistance
employed the human bombs tactic against enemy convoys and encampments.  Very
few freedom fighters usually partook in the execution of these operations.
Sometimes only one freedom fighter was involved.  But in most cases these
human bombs inflicted tremendous losses on the ranks of the invader leading
to the inducement of a chronic state of shock among enemy troops, and
fomenting a genuine crisis inside the invader society.

Fight A War of Attrition
========================
This model of victorious heroism, moreover, cost the invader a great deal of
casualties, money, and military resources.  For example, our inspection of
their barracks and military outposts shows that Zionists were forced to
invest heavily in building steel-reinforced fortifications and very long
concrete walls six or seven feet high across all the paths frequently used
in and out of their posts.  This was just to lessen the impact of the
attacks of the resistance and to reassure their distraught soldiers.
However, all these and many other measures to enhance security failed before
the determination of the resistance to achieve victory.   The resistance,
always on the prowl, kept on evolving and improvising NEW WAYS to engage the
invader.  Remote-controlled explosive charges along roadsides and obligatory
points of passage can be cited here as an example of a new tactic that
succeeded marvelously in augmenting the depletion of the invader's human
reserves and those of his Lebanese cohorts.

Win the Battle for Hearts and Minds
===================================
The resistance, furthermore, fought on more than one front using more than
one mode of operation.   For example, the resistance managed to extensively
penetrate the Lebanese collaborator forces that were formed to aid the
invader.  These clandestine networks operating under deep cover within the
Lebanese collaborator army of Antoin Lahd became the eyes and ears of the
resistance and a source of very valuable information.   Frequently the
invader would be unpleasantly surprised as a supposed Lebanese collaborator
blew himself up in the midst of a column of Zionists or Lebanese
collaborators, or turn his or her machine-gun in the 'wrong' direction.
After all, depleting the enemy's non-renewable human reserves can sometimes
be more important to the resistance than valuable information.  By contrast,
the Mosaad has often set up Arab collaborators without their knowledge with
explosive charges to eliminate many a Palestinian target.  [Note that
winning over large segments of the collaborator forces did not rely on
extortion, bribes, or brainwashing, but on the fundamental justice of the
cause for which the resistance fought, and in gaining credibility through
preliminary successes on the field.  This is an advantage that can never be
enjoyed by any oppressor anywhere - FAV].

Don't Give Your Enemy a Stationary Target
=========================================
Another important aspect in the management of the struggle against the
forces of Zionist occupation pertains to the fact that, unlike the PLO,
Hizbullah and the other Lebanese freedom fighters never operated out of
permanent posts, and never congregated forces in stationary bases or forts.
This was a crucial factor in the victory in South Lebanon because it left
enemy forces unable to retaliate against, chase after, or surprise attack
the ubiquitous fighters of the resistance.  [Remember how the Zionists came
up empty-handed in that respect during Operation Grapes of Wrath when Shimon
Perez was Prime Minister - FAV].  From a purely military point of view, this
kept the initiative squarely in the hands of the resistance fighters who
ended up choosing the time and place of each engagement.  In order to
restore the image of its always defeated troops, the invader thus resorted
to striking viciously at soft civilian targets like schools,
electricity-generation stations, and what have you.  Note here that it was
precisely the enemy's military failure that led to its embarrassment before
international public opinion more than once as it tried to compensate for
its inability to strike at military targets by attacking civilian ones.
[Remember international uproar in the aftermath of the Qana massacre during
Operation Grapes of Wrath - FAV].

Technology, Resources versus Determination
==========================================
On the other hand, Zionist forces had built fortifications, mighty citadels,
safe alleys, and impenetrable pathways for their soldiers.  These posts were
dispersed but juxtaposed so each may provide protection for the other.
Furthermore, the Zionists and their allies benefited from their superior
airforce and an extensive fleet of surveillance planes that never left
Lebanese aerospace unattended.    Anyone who actually sees these forts and
strongholds would get the impression that these guys were possibly preparing
for nuclear war.  All the same, these structures were mainly meant to uplift
the morale of the soldiers of occupation.  But the valiant Lebanese
resistance succeeded through sheer will, ingenuity, and an uninterrupted
stream of martyrs in 1) maintaining daily contact with the enemy, and 2)
instituting the attrition of the enemy as a constant feature of the
battleground, with no chance for abatement in the near or distant future.
THAT consequently led to the eventual disgraceful collapse of the invader.
The many vehicles, warehouses, and even top secret documents left behind in
a shameful haste testify to the uselessness of the elaborate structures and
sophisticated hardware against a small group of innovative freedom fighters
totally committed to a just cause and willing to go in the struggle all the
way.  THUS, the great Zionist Goliath came crumbling down.  There are
neither mysteries nor miracles there, but a REPLICABLE cause-effect
relationship, as Nassrallah pointed out more than once.

The Human Factor Reigns Supreme
===============================
One final remark which may not bear directly on military matters is the fact
that this great victory could not have taken place had it not been for the
availability of a sincere, hardworking, and uncompromising leadership.  The
leadership of the Lebanese resistance never considered in the darkest hours
the possibility of ever making shady deals with Zionists or recognizing
"Israel's" right to exist.  That's also why there was victory!

But the will of the people is what remains invincible, superior above all
else..God willing, the Palestinians will have their day too!

Rashid Wadi

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So you should take away the energy of their armies, and take away the hearts
of their generals - Sun Tzu, the Art of War
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2) On Pragmatists and Freedom Fighters, a comment by the Free Arab Voice

They call themselves 'pragmatists'.

Their point of departure in political action always springs from the
sanctity of the status quo.  They invariably view the CURRENT balance of
power between the oppressor and oppressed as eternal, and thus proceed in
the light of THAT stifling assumption to proclaim politics as the 'art of
the possible'.  Henceforth they sometimes argue for gradual change and
sometimes for making the best out of a very bad situation.  But while
spewing out rhetoric about this or that right, or the struggle, they
invariably end up:

1) legitimizing the status quo and its power structure, in the name of
   gradual change and being 'realistic' of course, and
2) getting the best personal terms for their careers as opportunistic safety
   valves for popular discontent.

Structurally speaking, those opportunistic elements in movements for social
and political change, whether they be alleged political activists or
intellectuals, are a natural extension of the status quo, a loyal opposition
to the powers that be, and a necessary appendage of the system.  In the
final analysis, they are nothing but a reactionary force that is an
impediment to real social and political change.  Consequently, they are
typically promoted by the oppressors over real revolutionaries, who are
frequently misrepresented in the mainstream media and by the opportunists
themselves as 'extreme' or 'unrealistic'.

On the other hand, there are genuine freedom fighters who see the 'art of
the possible' in a totally different light.  These political activists and
intellectuals do NOT restrict themselves to what is possible within a STATIC
status quo, but rather seek to develop the elements of strength of the
oppressed in the present, in ways that make a radical change in the unjust
status quo possible.  Their understanding of the 'art of the possible' is
DYNAMIC, not static, which necessarily includes the ability to see present
reality as it is, not as they wish it to be.  These are the real catalysts
for social and political change across the boundaries of time and space.
They stand in sharp contrast to opportunists, defeatists, and the so-called
pragmatists.   For these are the ones who draw up long-term strategies to
beat the odds instead of succumbing to the alleged inevitability of the
present balance of power.  Therefore, it is from the experiences of those
activists and freedom fighters that we need to learn the most.

After the decisive victory of the resistance in South Lebanon, the
boundaries of the debate with defeatists are no longer drawn around the
question of WHETHER victory over Zionism can be achieved, but over HOW it
can be achieved.  A good effort towards answering that question must start
with drawing lessons from the successful experience of liberating South
Lebanon.   Indeed, armed struggle is the name of the game, but generalities
and slogans are not good substitutes for effective strategies.  Therefore,
we need to look at the experience in South Lebanon with a more critical and
analytical eye.

The Free Arab Voice
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Watch out for part III of the Lessons of South Lebanon series.  Coming soon!

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