# Does Israel have the miltary manpower to hold Lebanon long term? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 4, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-the-miltary-manpower-to-hold-lebanon-long-term/367371 "2006-08-04T19:02:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-the-miltary-manpower-to-hold-lebanon-long-term/367371/1 "2006-08-04T19:02:18Z")
Just curious. [I thought Israel was relatively small are & population wise.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel#Military) Total population is less than many large metropolitan cities @ just over 7 million people. How far and how long can they extend themselves into Lebanon with a limited population? [IDF](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_Defence_Forces) > [@](#): > > The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) (Hebrew: צבא ההגנה לישראל Tsva HaHagana LeYisrael (help·info), “[Army] Force for the Defense of Israel”), often abbreviated with the Hebrew acronym צה"ל Tsahal, alternative English spelling Tzahal, is the name of Israel’s armed forces, comprising the Israeli Army, the Israeli Air Force and the Israeli Navy. The IDF as of August, 2004 had (according to unofficial estimates) 168,000 personnel, including 107,500 conscripts. The army had 125,000; the navy had 8,000; the air force had 35,000. Full mobilization to 576,000 could be quickly achieved with the reserves of 408,000[1]. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-the-miltary-manpower-to-hold-lebanon-long-term/367371/2 "2006-08-04T20:16:12Z")
They’re not proposing to hold all of Lebanon, just a strip north of the border. Of course they have the manpower. But that’s not really the issue. The danger is getting into a situation like what the U.S. is facing in Iraq – or like Israel faced in Lebanon the last time out. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-the-miltary-manpower-to-hold-lebanon-long-term/367371/3 "2006-08-04T20:46:47Z")
They have managed to occupy parts of Palestine for over 30 years. It will just take time. A couple settlements at a time. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2006, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-the-miltary-manpower-to-hold-lebanon-long-term/367371/4 "2006-08-05T17:35:36Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > They have managed to occupy parts of Palestine for over 30 years. It will just take time. A couple settlements at a time. One peace at a time? (with apologies to the late, great Johnny Cash…) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-the-miltary-manpower-to-hold-lebanon-long-term/367371/5 "2006-08-06T08:42:46Z")
> [@Least Original User Name Ever](#): > > They have managed to occupy parts of Palestine for over 30 years. It will just take time. A couple settlements at a time. Bear in mind that Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 18 years and never set up a single settlement. You can’t really compare Lebanon with the Territories. ---
**Author:** ![borowsally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@borowsally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borowsally)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-israel-have-the-miltary-manpower-to-hold-lebanon-long-term/367371/6 "2006-08-07T19:55:27Z")
They could invade Lebanon, but then so would Syria. I guess they’d rather fight Syria in Lebanon than back home, but it’s still a lose-lose situation.