GOC Army Headquarters

The Israeli GOC Army headquarters (מפקדת זרוע היבשה, Mifkedet Zro'a HaYabasha), abbreviated as Mazi (מז"י), is a multi-corps command headquarters created in 1998, which amalgamates the ground forces of the Israel Defense Forces. As of December, 2007, Mazi is headed by Aluf Avi Mizrahi. The current size of the Israeli Ground Forces is estimated at a rough 125,000 active soldiers and 600,000 soldiers in reserve.

The IDF's third arm

Under the IDF 2000 reforms, Mazi is set to become the IDF's third Arm, alongside the Air and Space Arm and the Sea Arm. Until the creation of Mazi, IDF ground forces were directly subordinate to the Chief of Staff; Mazi is still in the midst of being structured, which means to some extent they effectively remain so. Likewise with combat support and rear-line corps, which in part remain subordinate to respective Directorates. As an IDF arm, Mazi is designed to deal with the building of the ground forces' strength and working toward balance, combination, and coordination between the ground corps. Mazi's authority ranges from the battalion to the command level.

Corps

The command headquarters is located in Camp Bar Lev, between Ashkelon and Qiryat Mal'akhi. Mazi includes eight corps in three groups following their military functions.

The maneuvering corps

• The Infantry Corps
• The Armor Corps

The сombat support corps

• The Artillery Corps
• The Engineering Corps
• The Field Intelligence Corps

Heads of Mafchash and Mazi

• Dan Shomron (1983-1985)
• Amir Drori (1985-1986)
• Uri Sagi (1986-1991)
• Emanuel Sakel (1991-1994)
• Ze'ev Livne (1994-1996)
• Amos Malka (1996-1998)
• Moshe Soknik (1998-2001)
• Yiftah Ron-Tal (2001-2005)
• Benjamin Gantz (2005-December 20, 2007)
• Avi Mizrahi (December 20, 2007-date)

External links

• Army Headquarters' LIC2005: an international conference on "Warfare in Low Intensity Conflict"

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