Sri Lanka: The Winning Strategy

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December 31, 2007: The army believes it has a winning strategy, and could crush the LTTE within six months. The armed forces are using the army, navy and air force in a coordinated fashion to weaken and destroy the LTTE. The navy blockade has stopped most ammo and weapons shipments to the rebels. The air force bombs rebel bases as quickly as they can be found (and intel work is getting better) while the army has developed new tactics that prevent LTTE infantry attacks from doing much damage, while using numerical superiority, and lots more ammunition, to push back the LTTE, and inflict several dozen casualties a day. This kind of pressure has been very bad for LTTE morale, and the army believes that the LTTE will collapse within the year, simply because they will have no more fighting strength.

December 30, 2007: A major source of continued unrest in the east is the corruption that crippled the relief effort after the tidal wave hit two years ago. That event killed over 100,000 people along the east coast, and left a million homeless. Over $3 billion in aid was promised by foreign donors, but most of it never arrived, and most of what did was stolen by LTTE or government officials. Only about ten percent of the homeless got aid in rebuilding. The Tamils along the east coast are not happy about this.

December 28, 2007: The army captured an LTTE cache of 1,350 landmines. This was a big victory, because these mines have become a major weapon for the rebels, who now spend most of their time on the defensive.

December 27, 2007: The air force bombed another coastal village being used as a LTTE naval base. The LTTE uses camouflage and other deceptions to hide the activities of its "navy," but the government's military intelligence is getting better, and when a new LTTE base is identified, it is usually bombed shortly thereafter.

December 26, 2007: Off the north coast, the navy intercepted a major LTTE supply convoy. In the ensuing battle, eleven LTTE boats were sunk, as well as one navy vessel.

December 24, 2007: After a weekend of fighting, troops captured two LTTE checkpoints and a base. The fighting caused over a hundred casualties, most of them LTTE. The relative lack of artillery or mortar fire from the LTTE was a major disadvantage for the rebels. The navy blockade has cut supplies of ammo for the rebels, and this is curbing their ability to shoot back.

 

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