Defying Conventions - Op Rising Lion : Lessons for India

They began with the name, and there lies the difference between India and Israel. I am, for once a proponent of keeping war and its elements sacred. The only way to hit the enemy hardest is to never let him know- what, when, how, with what, why, and with whom ? (With whom is who would stand by you if an escalation through allies happens, like Pak - China nexus).

Surprise, deception, and guile are the framework for pre ops. What works is 'Creation of a Narrative '. And slow bleeding of economics. Hit where it hurts most, with the least, and be unattributable. Preseve, hit with elements of war that don’t need a contact and destroy the means in the invisible domain. Cyber warfare, Systems warfare (destruction of people managed systems, railways, air transport, freight management, supply chain, road management ,etc), and allied warfare. Keep the enemy leadership on tenter hooks by garnering international support for a just military retaliation. 'Be the threat in being .' The ideal example of this is India’s 'Op Parakram ' .

Cost of war Op Parakram - India - Rs 6,500 crore (or $3 billion).

Cost of war Op Parakram - Pakistan - $1.4 billion. Just imagine this type of additional expenditure forced on an enemy that is already impoverished and living on loans.

While we spent more money, we were economically stable.

The Israelis took the war to the next level. Planned years ahead. Embedded stooges within the Iranian leadership and military. The secrecy was the winning factor. Iran understood the threat, but they didn’t know What, When, Why, Where ,And with Whom ? The drones were assembled in Iran, used for assassinations of military and nuclear scientists. The air defence systems taken off by a pre emptive strike. While US was trying to get a nuclear deal signed and Gaza and Greta Thunberg grabbed headlines, they hit. Impeccable deception and a lesson to take home on mitiary surprise. They fought it seamlessly and within 48 hours controlled the Tehran skies.

The strategy was thorough, they played at all levels of warfare. The political level, with social media warriors and channels advocating the fall of Khameini, people close to him fleeing to Moscow, activating sleeper cells towards a Khameini free Iran. Bringing back into focus the crown prince of Iran Reza Pehlavi and the people wanting freedom from tyranny. Using Syrian air space by Syrian consent for the first time after Yom Kippur - 1973. At the strategic level, by assassinations of key figures and air defence systems and news houses, destroying in the first strike the nuclear bases. At operational level by destroying their supportive long-range ballistic missile bases and ammunition dumps. At tactical levels, by using drones as a threat in being, no one knows when the next drone attack will come from where (the drones are already there) ?

Lessons to learn. Their Op was named 'Operation Rising Lion'.

There was no Hollywood theme or women with no war experience sitting to give a war debrief.

⁃ lesson 1 : war is not a game so don’t play it for internal masses to consume. This leads in giving out secrecy and surprise.

⁃ War in contact phase is always the last option, when you have exhausted all others.

⁃ Do not make it a political tool and lose the pre emptive and strategic advantage.

⁃ Plan for war? You know the environment, you know your enemy, you know his habits. Realise the contingencies that are at play. Exploit his weaknesses, concentrate on his sensitivities and hit his vulnerabilities.

⁃ Devise means and methods that kills him internally (Israelis planting drones and embedding their agents in Iran military and political hierarchy).

⁃ Keep the application of war seamless, when you hit, hit hard, hit concentrated, hit for impact.

⁃ Do not leave the battlefield too early. Atleast establish the grid that you planned for in the beginning.

⁃ Use the environment to shadow intent. Build an atmosphere that hides the rifle below the coat.

⁃ In war there is no Bollywood, so refrain from Bollywood like names and phrases.

⁃ The military is an instrument of a nations will and for the political dispensation of the day to take firm action against an enemy that has crossed the threshold. Not a tool to be used for failure of diplomacy.

⁃ Use Media intelligently and information as a weapon.

⁃ GET YOUR NARRATIVE RIGHT FROM THE BEGINING. Narratives run on truth, action and post strike damage assessments. Not through a media interaction by amateurs.

The Israeli’s used the current international environment and the justification of destruction of Iranian nukes as a favour to the world, clubbed with ending the tyranny of Khomeini - simply brilliant. The timing could never have been better !