Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Learning Curve

I wondered who learned more from the 2008-2009 war--Israel or Hamas?

So far, Israel is losing more troops than they did in the last ground war:

Israel's casualties also mounted, with the military announcing the deaths of two more soldiers, bringing the number of army fatalities to 27 - almost three times as many as were killed in the last ground invasion of Gaza, in a 2008-2009 war.

Israel lost 10 in that battlefield victory over Hamas.

So I have to assume that Hamas learned more from that defeat than Israel did.

It all depends on what Israel's objective is before we find out if Israel actually learned more. Will Israel achieve more to justify the higher casualties?

UPDATE: Yeah, the simple level of casualties indicated Hamas learned something along these lines:

Using tunnels, mines, booby traps and snipers, Hamas fighters have inflicted record casualties on Israeli troops waging an offensive in the Gaza Strip, applying years of training in urban warfare with a new tactical acumen and suicidal resolve.

Hamas learned more tactically from their defeat 5 years ago.

The question is whether this is a replay of the Israeli 2008-2009 winter offensive that gives Hamas the advantage with their superior tactical learning curve; or whether Israel is attempting to achieve something else that makes Hamas' new tactical skills irrelevant to the Israeli objective.