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Former US Army Chief Mark Hertling says Israel must respond to Hezbollah

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Hezbollah’s attack on Israel was not “accidental” but a “mockery of Israel,” retired US general and military analyst Lieutenant General Mark Hertling told CNN on Monday morning.

Hertling, who previously served as commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe and commanded the 1st Armored Division in Iraq, spoke to CNN following the Hezbollah attack on Majdal Shams that killed 12 Druze children and injured many more on Saturday.

Hertling strongly contradicted statements made by a Western politician in an earlier CNN interview that the attack was “unintentional” and that neither side wanted a full-scale war.

“It is quite obvious that the rockets came from Lebanese territory, that they bear the markings of Iranian rockets and missiles, that this was a repeated attack and that it was a provocation of Israel by Hezbollah,” he told CNN.

On Sunday, IDF spokesman R-Adm. Daniel Hagari confirmed that the missile was an Iranian-made Falaq-1 missile with a warhead containing 53 kg of explosives. Hagari announced that Hezbollah “carried out the launch from the Chebaa region of Lebanon.”

Lt. Gen. Mark P. Hertling (left), commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe, listens to Gideon Avidor, director of the Zvi Meitar Institute of Land Warfare Studies, as he visits the Latroun Museum on August 10, 2011. (Source: Matty Stern/US Embassy Tel Aviv/Flash90)

In response to the attack, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi announced on Sunday that Israel’s readiness for the next phase of fighting in the north would be raised to the “next level.”

Hertling addressed this escalation, saying he had “said from the beginning that from a military point of view it would be foolish to open a second front for Israel,” but he knew that a “proportionate response” was needed to counter Hezbollah’s constant attacks.

“I’m not talking about politics here, but from a military perspective,” he told CNN. “A military commander never wants to open a second front with his enemy.”

“But when there are ongoing attacks on Israeli territory by Hezbollah, another terrorist organization, another organization that supports Iran, then you have to give an appropriate response.”

He said the biggest concern at present is what form this “proportionate response” would take, given the difficulty of balancing the need for a response with the complexity of this type of warfare and the potential for significant collateral damage.

“As we all know, if we look at the history of Israel’s wars against Lebanon in 1982 and 2004, those were quite devastating for the Israeli forces because they were caught in a quagmire in Lebanon,” Hertling added.

“This is not just about terrorists, but about a nation-state. Therefore, it is very difficult for Israel to prevent such incidents by a terrorist organization that receives permission from the Iranian government to be on Israeli territory.”

Hertling and Israel

Over ten years agoIn 2012, the then commander of the US Army in Europe, Hertling, spoke of the need for joint training exercises between the US and the Israeli armed forces due to common goals.

“Israel has come out of the intifada just as we are coming out of counterinsurgency. We see the same thing, namely the need to continue training,” Hertling said.

In an opinion article for Bulwark on October 13, 2023, he described then-IDF chief Shlomi Turgeman as a friend and partner.

In the same publication, Hertling called the October 7 Hamas attack “shocking and hair-raising” and called the Israeli Defense Forces a respected and “widely misunderstood” army.

Darcie Grunblatt contributed to this report.



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