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Military and strategic expert Major General Fayez Al-Duwairi anticipates that the Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), will carry out special operations against the Israeli forces entrenched east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip within the next 48 hours.
In his analysis for Al Jazeera, Al-Duwairi attributed his estimates to the fact that the occupation army relied on armored vehicles supported by brigades east of Rafah, to penetrate open areas, which poses a challenge for the resistance in initially dealing with them.
He added that the Qassam fighters and other factions are underground, and some time must pass to absorb the shock, “and then employ the network of tunnels to carry out special operations within the next 36-48 hours.”
He warned that the method of managing the defensive battle might become clear within 48 hours by the Palestinian resistance, as the battle is still in its early stages and currently relies on shelling operations within the Gaza envelope, sniper operations, and limited use of anti-tank shells.
He emphasized that the current Rafah operation is a limited battle within a specific location to achieve political objectives, including controlling the Rafah border crossing, closing it, and isolating the Gaza Strip from the world.
Among the goals, according to Al-Duwairi, is also the bombing of high residential towers to deprive the resistance of carrying out observation, monitoring, and sniping operations, in addition to completing the systematic destruction of life’s essentials, destroying dozens of apartments, and killing dozens.
War Duration Estimates Regarding the statements by the spokesperson for the occupation army, Daniel Haggari, that Israel planned for a war that would last about a year, Al-Duwairi explained that estimating the duration of the war depends on the nature of the battles, the size of the participating forces, and the method of managing the defensive battle.
He elaborated, “Seven months have passed in the war, without achieving any military accomplishments after employing more than 35% of the total occupation army,” adding that the size of the force participating at the peak of the war reached 21 brigades, compared to 5 brigades currently, 3 of which are regular, “which means that the journey is still long to achieve the war’s objectives.”
The strategic expert concluded that political objectives are difficult to translate into a military plan, “therefore, the temporal framework and dimensions of the battle in built-up areas will prolong the duration of the battle.”
Haggari had stated earlier on Wednesday that “Gaza is one of the most difficult battlefields in the world, in terms of fighting and its intensity, and the tunnels dug by Hamas underground.”
Source: Al Jazeera