The IDF vs Hamas...Who are they? [Diogenes]

It is difficult to do a direct soldier-to-soldier comparison between the IDF and Hamas. We know a great deal about the Israel military, a truly professional force, but not a lot about Hamas, a not so professional force. In fact, it is difficult to call the Hamas fighters “soldiers” as that denotes a level of professionalism that they clearly lack. Further, the IDF is a defined military force that is an arm of a legitimate nation state. Gaza is not a nation state, although one could argue they were, on 10/6, a de facto state organization. Hamas is, at best, a type of militia with a set of strengths and weaknesses.

The IDF
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) consists of an Army element, Air Force, and Navy with a special commando unit (Seals) called Shayetet-13. There is not a Marine Corps although one Brigade had been trained in amphibious techniques. The military is a curious mix of concepts and equipment, reflecting their historical roots from Great Britian and Europe, and of their primary suppliers, including the USA.

All branches of the IDF answer to a single General Staff. The Chief of the General Staff is the only serving officer having the rank of Lieutenant General (3 Stars). He reports directly to the Defense Minister and indirectly to the Prime Minister of Israel and the cabinet.

Beneath him are the Regional Commands: Northern, Central, Southern, and Home Front. Within these are the various members of the Services, delegated to the Ground Arms, Air and Space Arm, and the Sea Arm. Beneath these, and with the ability to task organize as needed for combat operations under the command of a Division and/or Corps, are the various Brigades. Within the US we recognize Divisions, the most famous being the 82nd Airborne and the 101st Air Assault, but the IDF is more like the Brits with strong attachment to a Brigade structure that frequently is drawn for a common geographical area.

The Infantry Corps is comprised of six active duty Brigades with a number of reserve Brigades available. The Armor corps has four Brigades and a likewise large number of Reserve Brigades to call upon. There is also the Artillery Corps with multiple regiments. All of these are supported by various Combat Support and Combat Service Support Brigades. There are currently (via unclassified sources) five Brigades active in the front line fighting in Gaza: The Golani, the Nahal, the Givati, the Kfir and the Paratrooper Brigade. As we know, thousands of Reserves have been called up and as they process through getting ready for deployment, we will see a greater number of units deploying to both augment and replace these frontline units.

The basic structure of the IDF is like that found in most Western Armies. It begins with the Fire Team, 4-5 soldiers that work along with a second fire team to form the Squad. There are four squads in a platoon, and typically four platoons in a Company. In the American Army, there are usually 4 or 5 companies in a Battalion and that is true for Israel too, however some units are specific Regiments that can consist of 5-6 Companies. The closest thing we might is in the US army are Cavalry units. 3 to 5 Battalions form a Brigade and most IDF soldiers will identify with their home Brigade. The Israelis are very adept and agile in their thinking and can adjust their order of battle to fit any given situation. Their soldiers are well educated, well trained, and very well equipped.

The Air and Space Corps consists of the Air Force as we generally understand it with fighters, bombers, transport, and close air support. Interestingly, the Air Defense Force is found here too. This is different from what the US does where the Air Defenders are part of the Army. Not a lot written about the Space Force, although the exo-atmosphere intercept of the missile fired by the Houthi’s gives us an indication this is a sophisticated and effective organization.

The Navy Corps is of course, the Israeli navy. They can put to sea with 15 warships and five submarines. They have additional patrol craft. Like the rest of the Israeli military, the Navy is a blend of both foreign purchase and domestically developed weapon systems, command and control, and fire control technologies. We see this with the acquisition of the Sa’ar 6 Corvette class ship. Built by the Germans, it is being equipped with about 80-90% Israeli domestically built systems focused on defense.

I won’t get into specific weapon systems and platforms. We are seeing a lot of them in the news and it is just a mouse click away for many who may be interested. One could spend all day writing about them, and many books are out there as well. Suffice to say the Israeli soldier is well equipped and is a formidable soldier on the battlefield. More importantly, the IDF can field a true combined arms force of Army, Air Force, Navy, and Space that can be crafted to fit any tactical situation.

Hamas
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades are the military wing of the Palestinian organization Hamas, operating in the Gaza Strip. It is currently led by Mohammed Deif and its deputy, Marwan Issa. I wonder for how long?

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades are interesting in that while subordinate to Hamas's political structure, they have a significant level of independence in decision making. In 1997, political scientists Ilana Kass and Bard O'Neill described Hamas' relationship with the Brigades as reminiscent of Sinn Féin's relationship to the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and quoted a senior Hamas official: "The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade is a separate armed military wing, which has its own leaders who do not take their orders [from Hamas] and do not tell us of their plans in advance." This mindset of separation continues to this day.

Recently the IDF published an intelligence summary about the Hamas military in Gaza. They put the strength of the Qassam Brigades there at the start of the war at 30,000 fighters, organized into five Brigades that were positioned by area. These brigades consisted of 24 battalions made up of approximately 140 company sized units. These in turn have several platoons. Each regional brigade had a number of strongholds and outposts, and included their version of combat support and combat service support forces. These fighters were equipped to use more specialized munitions such as rockets, anti-tank missiles, air defenses, snipers, and engineers.

Some Hamas fighters have uniforms, some do not. The more regular and well-equipped fighters have a full array of web gear and weapons. We have all seen the typical black hood and green headband. The typical Brigade will operate on a model that reflects the guerilla history of Hamas, and work in independent cells. Think of these cells as platoons within the company. Even high-ranking members are often unaware of the activities of other cells, a problem, as noted above, that continues up their chain of command. This is a clear problem with command and control, and something the IDF is probably having to deal with on the battlefield. The guys they are fighting in northern Gaza City may not be working with the guys they are fighting in the southern Gaza City. And neither may be paying much attention to what they are being told from southern Gaza.

The military capability of the Brigades has increased markedly since its establishment in 1987. Today we see a fairly standard array of small arms and automatic weapons at the fighter level, with augmentation that includes more sophisticated systems.

The Brigades have a substantial inventory of light automatic weapons and grenades, improvised rockets, mortars, bombs, suicide belts (gotta love those…I bet the training is lit!), and explosives. The group has engaged in military-style training, in Gaza and in other Middle Eastern countries. They train to engage both civilian and military targets.

The Brigades also have a variety of anti-tank guided missiles including the Kornet-E, Konkurs-M, Bulsae-2 (North Korean version of Fagot), 9K11 Malyutka and MILAN missiles, as well as shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADS), such as the SA-7B, SA-18 Igla missiles, and it is believed a number of SA-24 Igla-S that it received from Libya. Although this sounds formidable, I have not seen a lot of troop level air defense employed by Hamas.

Hamas is a dangerous street level fighter. He owns the terrain and has had ample time to prepare. The tunnels have been particularly nasty ad caused the Israeli’s to create a unique engineering battalion to deal with them. He is generally educated and trained to fight his kind of street, hit-and-run battle. The typical Hamas fighter will engage and fight, but generally lacks the discipline of a professional soldier. He can converge at certain locations to affect their battle plan but will not sustain a specific operation for long. As pointed out, they have difficulty in Command and Control, especially across brigade lines. Their logistics have been good and they have fired an incredible number of rockets at Israel. And while this is remarkable, it also demonstrates a lack of fire control, limiting their use of mortars and artillery.

The Brigades run their own intelligence teams. This is likely heavily dependent on Human Intelligence augmented with extensive drone use for Imagery. I believe Hamas is capable of limited Signals Intelligence collection, but I suspect their architecture for collection, processing and reporting is marginal. I suspect the “strategic” intelligence for their Hamas leadership comes as much from outside sources (Iran, Syria and the usual suspects) as from their own internal networks.

The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades operations to date reflect poor linkage to a strategic plan, poor preparation for a sustained fight, but reasonable execution of their street battles. They cannot win and can only hope that the West will apply pressure on Israel as they have in the past, to stop. I don’t see this happening. Hamas days are numbered.

["Diogenes" has multiple graduate degrees with a focus on the Middle East, and an Army Intelligence Officer graduate of both the Army and USMC Command and Staff Colleges.]

posted by Open Blogger at 11:00 AM

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