Retired Lebanese General Georges Nader: Israelis Are Cowards; The Lebanese Army Can Use Guerilla Warfare Against Them; Government Is Tying The Military's Hands At The Behest Of Hizbullah

Lebanese General (Ret.) Georges Nader said in a December 11, 2020 interview on Radio Sawt Beirut International (Lebanon) that the Lebanese army can confront Israel and using guerilla tactics similar to those used by Hizbullah in the 2006 War. He said that it has units that specialize in infantry and small unit combat and that the Israelis fear ground warfare and face-to-face combat. Adding that the Lebanese government follows Hizbullah's orders, General Nader said that the thing tying the Lebanese army’s hands is the government’s lack of political will. General Nader is a leading activist in the popular opposition movement against the Lebanese government.

Georges Nader: "The Lebanese army is capable of protecting all of Lebanon, and it is capable of confronting Israel. All that is needed is the political will in support of the army. The popular will is there, and the Lebanese soldiers have not lost the will to fight."

Interviewer: "But could the army have done what the resistance did in the 2006 war?"

Nader: "Yes."

Interviewer: "Could it have confronted Israel?"

Nader: "Absolutely..."

Interviewer: "One regular army against another..."

Nader: "The Lebanese army does not have to fight like a regular army. It can use small groups to wage guerilla warfare against Israel."

Interviewer: "Is the Lebanese army qualified to..."

Nader: "Absolutely. We are trained in this. It is called deep small-unit operations. We have three or four regiments of special units that have specialized in what we call in military language 'small unit combat.' This is the kind of fighting that can harm Israel. If the political decision is made, these small units can deploy to south Lebanon, and wait for Israel to come near. We have special units that are highly trained and have the ability and the will to fight. But the political will is not there."

Interviewer: "Do they have the missiles and the equipment..."

Nader: "We don't need missiles. Nobody is terrified of missiles. The Israelis only fear ground-based face-to-face combat. On the ground, the Israelis are cowards. True, Israel has the technology, the power of destruction, and aerial superiority, but airplanes cannot capture territory. They can only sow destruction. Only infantry can capture territory."

Interviewer: "But the bases, camps, and the positions of the Lebanese army are known. On the other hand, [it is difficult] to find and bomb Hizbullah..."

Nader: "Let me tell you, we used to have a plan... I don't think it's a military secret. I don’t have the right to divulge military secrets. It was a plan to defend Lebanon from the south to the heartland. It was in 2003, when I was in the commandos. It was a plan to fight on foot, without any vehicles. Nobody was left in the Roumieh Camp. The plan was to hide in the woods, and in the caves, and if the enemy advanced, we had a plan how to fight it. We have the plans, we have the soldiers, we have the will, and we have the commanders."

Interviewer: "Who ties the army's hands?"

Nader: "Politics. Politics is a catastrophe for the military. The political rule, in the form of the government and the parliament, is the disaster that afflicts the army."

Interviewer: "And whose orders do they follow?"

Nader: "Today? They follow the orders of Hizbullah."