Hezbollah’s Guide To Fighting Assad’s Army

Lebanon’s Hezbollah has managed to resist Israel’s invading army — the region’s most powerful armed force — by successfully deploying guerrilla tactics in what is known as an asymmetric war (where one side is much more powerful than the other).

Bashar el Assad’s powerful Syrian army is waging an equally unbalanced war against the lightly armed Free Syrian Army (FSA). What would Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah advise the FSA to do in order to emerge victorious? Below are some of the tips he would have given the leaders of the FSA had he not decided to side with the forces of aggression:

• When the enemy is attacking, lay low. The point is to fight the enemy when its guards are down and is least expecting it. So with all the indiscriminate shelling happening today in Syria, the best thing the FSA can do is to wait and conserve its energy.
• Attack where the enemy is least prepared: The Syrian army is on the offensive in Homs and Zabadani? Attack in Deraa and Aleppo.
• Keep the propaganda war on: You’re the weak party that is being constantly pummeled by a stronger one. The aim is to lower the morale of your enemy’s soldiers and convince them that they’re fighting an unjust war. It is also to show the world that your enemy is an aggressor.
• Use your community’s support to your advantage. When the enemy approaches, melt away in the population. Burry your weapons in a safe place and don civilian clothes. The soldier can’t stay around forever. Occupation costs money.
• Use kidnapping, creative “qualitative operations” and deception. Those generate high publicity and raise the costs of protecting the enemy’s soldiers.
• Remember that the aim is to wear down the enemy, not to deliver a knockout blow.

And finally, always remember that things may take time, but be confident that in the end you will emerge victorious.