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7 The Operational Environment:
New Capabilities of the Radical Shiite Axis

Itai Brun and Itai Shapira

Jack Guez Recommendations

Snapshot Finalize a mew multi-year plan for the IDF
• Prepare for a multi-theater war • Close
Increased enemy capability to damage Israel’s gaps in the public’s expectations regarding
national infrastructure and IDF operational the characteristics of a future war • Debate
components – using precision-guided weapons, “decision” and “victory” in the current era
advanced air and naval systems, and new cyber
capabilities

Introduction

Today’s complex and challenging operational environment, in which Israel exercises its military and other capabilities,
is the product of a host of intertwined technological, military, social, and political developments. These developments,
which have unfolded over the past few decades, include deep global changes in the characteristics of war; geostrategic
changes in the Middle East – most of which are outcomes of the regional upheaval and related events (including
the dispatch of military forces to the region by world powers); essential changes in the operational concept and the
weapons of Israel’s enemies, especially the radical Shiite axis; changes in the way Israel’s military force is exercised,
reflected mainly in the preference for firepower (based on precise intelligence) over ground forces maneuver; and
implications of the information revolution that has hit the world and the military establishments.

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