In 2010, Dr. Shmuel Bar, director of studies at the Institute of Policy and Strategy in Herzliya, Israel, wrote the following:
Armor and in particular tanks had been the keys to Israeli success in previous wars. Following the battle of Bint Jbeil and the broadcast of destroyed Merkvas [Israeli “Chariot” tanks], the regional population knew that God’s Chariot, a symbol of power in the region for decades, was no longer invincible.1
The lessons of the 2006 Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, the 1987–88 Tanker War, and observations of recent developments in Iran offer insight into the scope and scale of what a potential conflict with Iran would hold for the U.S. Navy and its coalition partners. During the 2006 conflict in the Levant, Iran’s proxy Hezbollah executed a form of hybrid warfare that combined well-trained conventional forces, unexpected new weapons and tactics, and masterful exploitation of the information environment.2
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