Why can't the IDF take out Hezbollah's rocket sites?

[northernsoul]

If the goal of the IDF's current operations in Lebanon is to protect Israel from Hezbollah attacks, why have they apparently bombed all kinds of economic infrastructure within Lebanon but left enough Hezbollah rocket sites unscathed enough for Hez to keep firing into Israel? I'm no military expert, but it seems to me that it shouldn't be too hard to locate those sites and take them out, especially with all of the IDF's vaunted skill and expertise. Any thoughts?

[catmandu57]

1. I think they're mobile

rockets so when they fire a round off they pick up and move. I could be wrong, but, I think if they could they would.

[northernsoul]

3. Yep, looks like the Katyushas at least are mobile

Here's the wikipedia article on Katyusha Rockets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyusha



What's the other kind of rocket used? The Kassam?

[yellowcanine]

7. Kassams are even more mobile. Can be fired by a man with a shouldier

launcher. They make them in garages in Gaza. Fortunately for the Israelis, they aren't very reliable or accurate.

[theboss]

2. They are trying to isolate Hezbollah first

The missle sites are mobile so simply attacking them would force the IDF to play a never ending game of whack-a-mole. The strategy seems to be to cut them off from Beirut (and Syria) and then squeeze them into a smaller and smaller zone.

Though, there probably is a punitive aspect to this as well.

[yellowcanine]

4. Probably because Katushya rocket launchers can be mounted on trucks.

The truck can launch a couple of missiles and move before the IDF can pinpoint their location.

[leveymg]

5. These are little more than bottle rockets. One or two guys can set them

up in about five minutes, set the timer, run, and that's it.

Katyusha rockets aren't Minuteman missiles -- they're more like Estes model rockets that carry a payload about the size of an artillery shell. They're not very effective against ground targets unless launched in large numbers.

The Katyusha rocket dates from the early 1940s when they were used by the Russians. Most were used as a form of artillery, launched from pickup trucks, but they also were used as a crude form of air-to-air rocket. See below:

[npincus]

6. they're trying to pressure the gov't into reigning in Hezzbollah

[Swede]

8. Why can't the US army take out the Taliban's rocket sites?

It must be harder then we think.

[earthside]

9. Wrong Question

The only solution to the problems in the levant is political.

Which is why I blame Bush for this current violence. Since he and "Deadeye Dick" came to power in the U.S., the preferred method to solve international problems has been to use force and violence, ie, might makes right. This philosophy was taken as a green light by Sharon and the present Israeli leadership to speed-up the extermination and/or subjugation of the Palestinian people.

Taking out rockets now will only prolong the agony of ALL the people living in Israel, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.

And how will a political solution to the Israel-Palestine problem ever come about. The U.S. must stop writing a blank check for everything Israel does ... Bush did it again yesterday with his ordering the veto of the UN resolution on the re-invasion of Gaza. Once the billions and billions of U.S.-aid dollars to Israel stops, then there will be an incentive for a solution.

It isn't hard to envision. There must be a return to the 1967 borders and an acceptance of the right of two states to exist from both sides.

But as long as the U.S. pretends that Israel can never to anything wrong, funds their military, and tolerates their nuclear weapons, then peace will never come.