The main problem the IDF
faced in planning to fight the Syrians was that conditions in the Golan
were not conducive to implementing Israel's traditional operational
concept, with its emphasis on early offensive action and the indirect
approach. The narrow front, the density of Syrian forces there, and the
depth of the Syrian fortifications built since the 1973 war limited
opportunities for maneuver and raised the possibility that a
breakthrough battle would be won only at the cost of unacceptable high
losses.
Israel devoted itself in the
1980s to developing equipment and methods to address what Israeli
military experts proclaimed to be a crisis created by a saturated
battlefield. The particular operational problems of a war on the Golan,
combined with the apparent potential of emerging military technologies,
spurred a debate about the continued efficacy of Israel's traditional
commitment to the offense versus the defense in war. The participants
in the debate fell into two camps: Traditionalists and reformers.
According to the traditionalists, as expressed by General Israel Tal,
Israel's singular adherence to offensive action was dictated by its
strategic circumstance and had stood the test of time. There was,
accordingly, no need for change.
On the other hand, the
reformers questioned the efficacy of offensive action and maneuver
warfare under conditions obtaining on the Golan. Under such conditions,
offensive operations focusing on a breakthrough battle could well result
in enormous casualties for Israel. The reformers thus offered and
alternative to the breakthrough battle. They proposed that the IDF
exploit new and emerging technologies - precision munitions, automated
command-and-control systems, and day/night target acquisition
capabilities - to create new war-fighting options for Israel.
Although the IDF could
continue to emphasize preemption, implementation of the latter approach
would entail a shift in emphasis from maneuver to fire, and from
offensive action to an active defense on the ground - at least during
the initial phase of a war.
