As Israel plans Gaza 'conquest', how strong is its army?
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Israel's military has called up tens of thousands of reservists for its planned expanded offensive in Gaza, which an official said entails the "conquest" of the Palestinian territory.With one of the best equipped armies in the world, what forces are available to Israel?A large part of the adult population has completed military service and they are required to remain reservists until at least the age of 41, depending on rank and branch of service.But it is not compulsory for reservists to respond to the call-up.Israel's army has 169,500 soldiers, both conscripts and professionals, according to the Military Balance annual report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).It also has 465,000 reservists.In January 2024, 295,000 reservists and 45,000 volunteers joined to take part in the war triggered by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, according to the latest available army figures.Brigadier General Rami Abudraham , head of planning for ground forces, told a parliamentary committee on Monday that the voluntary mobilisation rate for reservists is more than 75 percent."It's more than a miracle... after a year and a half of war," he said.According to the Mediterranean Foundation for Strategic Studies (FMES), Israel's army has 12 ground divisions and five independent brigades -- such as paratroopers or commandos.An Israeli army division has between 13,000 and 20,000 troops and a brigade between 3,000 and 7,000, according to experts.Israel's Air Force has 316 combat aircraft, including 175 that can operate within a radius of more than 1,000 kilometres, according to the IISS.By comparison, Britain's Royal Air Force has 146 fighter jets.The IISS also says that Israel has five submarines, seven small warships known as corvettes and 42 patrol boats, including eight able to fire missiles.Israel has never confirmed or denied that it has nuclear weapons, but according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) it has 90 nuclear warheads.- No shortage of soldiers -Since the Hamas attack in October 2023, Israel has operated on several fronts outside Gaza.These include the West Bank, a separate Palestinian territory which Israel has occupied since 1967, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen from where Iran-backed Huthi rebels have launched missile and drone attacks, and Iran itself, which directly attacked Israel twice in 2024.In Lebanon, a November ceasefire agreement ended more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Tehran-backed militant group Hezbollah.But Israel has maintained several positions in south Lebanon and continues to carry out deadly strikes inside the country.Since Islamist-led forces ousted Syria's former president Bashar al-Assad in December, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes against military targets there also.It has also sent troops into the demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights -- much of which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 war.The Huthis, who control swathes of Yemen including the capital Sanaa, have launched missiles and drones at Israel throughout the Gaza war, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians.Israel has responded with several retaliatory strikes."There is no problem with a shortage of soldiers," former brigadier general Yossi Kuperwasser, an expert at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security (JISS), told AFP.He said operations in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen do not currently require the mobilisation of reserve forces."On most fronts, the army does not need to mobilise many men and there are enough soldiers and reservists for the upcoming operation in Gaza," he added.
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