In response to the Hamas attack, Israel continues to shell Gaza. What is the expected further development of events? Director of the NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence Jānis Sārts and former NBS commander Raimonds Graube spoke about this and other current events in the LTV program “Shodienas Jautājums”.
In response to the Hamas attack, Israel continues to shell Gaza. What is the expected further development of events? Director of the NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence Jānis Sārts and former NBS commander Raimonds Graube spoke about this and other current events in the LTV program “Shodienas Jautājums”.
Graube pointed out that it is important to distinguish whether we are talking about the Gaza Strip or Gaza City. “Hamas’ biggest support point is Gaza City,” said Graube.
According to Graube, the current conflict is not comparable to previous conflicts, as both sides have increased combat capabilities. “It is already clear that there will be big losses for both sides,” he predicts.
“Military forces have increased. This shows that the operation will be very bloody and difficult. People have nowhere to stay. A land operation in the city, between houses will demand victims of the population. The operation will be tragic,” said the former NBS commander.
“Military action will be very strong. I assume that in the eyes of many it might seem disproportionate. I think it could raise the question of whether or not other Arab countries can get involved in this conflict. I assume that Iran, which certainly participated in the creation of the plans, wanted to achieve goals – to destroy peace processes in the Middle East,” Sarts said.
Speaking about why Israel was caught off guard by the Hamas attack, Jānis Sārts commented that it was a classic error of self-confidence on the part of the intelligence services. “We have also seen this in the terrorist attacks of 9/11,” Sarts pointed out the parallels.
Sarts commented that there was still information about the possible attack, but the problem arose from how each specific service treated the information.
