In his first interview since taking office, IDF Chief of Staff Eisenkot tells Ynet about the IDF's covert operations to stop Iranian aid to Hezbollah and Hamas, talks about attempts to get Nasrallah, and discusses both the Azaria case and the submarine affair.


The scenario for the breakout of the next war, which the IDF's Northern Command has recently drilled as part of a large-scale training exercise, includes the infiltration of Hezbollah fighters into an Israeli community.

"We have intelligence, we have fortifications and we have offensive plans to thwart it," the IDF chief tells Ynet. "I can't guarantee there wouldn’t be an infiltration into Israel's territory and into a community. I can guarantee high efficiency in defense, I can guarantee that if anyone infiltrates the State of Israel, we would kill them. We would prevent (Hezbollah) from having any significant achievements. Both Hezbollah and Hamas understand the unbearable price they would have to pay for infiltrating an Israeli community and harming civilians."


‘Hezbollah is the enemy we’re concerned about’
A caricature hangs on the wall of the IDF chief's office depicting Nasrallah, Syrian President Bashar Assad, and former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad looking at Eisenkot, then still a major-general, in his combat uniform and his yet-to-go-gray hair, on the day he was discharged from the IDF. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing him again," the three say with a wicked smile.

The caricature is from 2011, when Eisenkot had one leg out the door, after he finished his term as the GOC Northern Command and following the nomination (which was later withdrawn) of Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant to IDF chief.

Alongside the prophetic caricature is a metal statuette of an infantry soldier's shoes made of shrapnel from mortar shells and rockets launched at Israeli communities on the Gaza border. The shoes are walking on a sketch of the map of Israel. This farewell present from his former head of office, Col. Nir, is more of a depiction of Eisenkot's current role as an intrepid Golani infantryman who has no qualms about marching down a long path, charging with zeal at any goal he sets for himself and achieving it.

Currently, after the 21st IDF chief's term has crossed its halfway mark, Eisenkot continues working diligently to change the face of the Israeli military. Just before the beginning of the High Holy Days, Ynet joined him on the training grounds in the north and at his 14th floor office in the Kirya IDF Headquarters base for an in-depth interview.

https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5025234,00.html

Are we facing imminent war?

“At the moment, I don’t see desire or motivation in any of our enemies to attack, to intentionally start a war. Our experience has taught us that our test as an army should center on capabilities. There is significant capability (to start a war) in Lebanon and certain capability in Syria.

“Hezbollah is a semi-military organization, with many components and aspects of a military. It has gained experience over the last few years in the kind of fighting I don’t take lightly: It operated battalions and brigades, received offensive aid, made intelligence collection efforts. Alongside that, Hezbollah also paid a very steep price—2,000 of its men were killed and some 7,000 wounded.

“Hezbollah is the enemy we’re concerned about right now, more than any other enemy around us, but the strategic balance massively tips in the IDF’s favor.”

How will the next war look?

“The IDF is operating to defeat its enemies and increase our periods of calm. But if we have to go to war—the IDF’s enemies would find themselves facing a sharper, stronger and more professional army than ever before.”

As the one who rehabilitated the Northern Command in the five years that followed the war in 2006, Eisenkot has become identified with the Dahiya doctrine: The use of disproportionate force to destroy the Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut, which to this day serves as the underlying deterrence for Nasrallah.

“We tried to get Nasrallah at the beginning of the war. We attacked the building he was living in and the one that served as his bunker," Eisenkot admitted. "Throughout the war we tried to track him down. He knows why he’s been living in a bunker for 11 years. He doesn’t dare go outside, even though he’s an admired figure in Lebanon.”

'Working to stop Iranian entrenchment in Syria'

During Eisenkot’s tenure, the IDF has stepped up what has been dubbed as “operations between wars”—missions designed to thwart Hezbollah and Harmas’s efforts to arm themselves with advanced weaponry. In fact, special air, naval and land forces have been splitting their time in recent years between training and such covert activity, to which Eisenkot dedicates a significant portion of his time.

“The IDF is working around the clock to allow Israel’s citizens to live in security. Our forces operate overtly and covertly every night to complete their missions,” he says.

Some of these operations are meant to prevent the conversion of thousands of Hezbollah’s rockets and heavy missiles into precision-guided munitions at factories Iran is planning to build in Lebanon or Syria. Improving the accuracy of these projectiles would allow Hezbollah to hit within a radius of no more than a 100 meters from their target—be it the IDF Headquarters in the Kirya, the Ramat David Airbase or the Haifa refineries.

All options on the table' regarding Iran
As of late, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been putting the Iranian nuclear program back on the international agenda in light of Tehran’s entrenchment in Syria. The prime minister discussed the matter with US President Donald Trump and spoke about it at length in his speech at the UN General Assembly, but it is doubtful Netanyahu could achieve his goal of having the nuclear agreement canceled.

Is the military option still on the table?

“When the political ranks say the State of Israel has the ability and that all options are on the table, they say so based on existing military ability. Meaning, the IDF has basic plans, it has the ability and if the IDF is required for the task, it would know how to act and meet the objectives set to it by the political ranks.”