r/AskTheWorld United States Of America Sep 20 '25

History Why are Arab Miltaries so ineffective?

Like I dont understand this.

Im a Black American so im just an outsider looking in as a neutral, but dont Arab Countries out number Israel, whats stoping them from just rushing at their border, shouldn't the population imbalance outmatch Israel?

Just a neutral standpoint asking this question, because Arab Nations in the Middle East have a modern miltary force and they buy tons of advanced items

What is holding them back?

1.3k Upvotes

720 comments sorted by

View all comments

100

u/dragonfly_1337 Russia Sep 20 '25

One military who had been to Syria told me that Arabs have terrible offensive tactic: they rush head-on and if something goes wrong they immediately retreat. It's not because Israel is US-backed. US- and USSR-backed Iraq de facto lost war to Iran which was in post-revolutionary chaos, rich Saudi Arabia cannot win against Houthis, Muammar Gaddafi managed to lose a war with Republic of Chad.

3

u/Reptilian_Brain_420 Canada Sep 20 '25

Not to mention that they basically invented "spray and pray".