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- [Before Reading the following article, the reader is advised to peruse http://israelbehindthenews.com/bin/content.cgi?ID=2599&q=1 entitled “UN Security Council Resolution 1701: Dr. Aaron Lerner: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs Obfuscates the Down Side of the UN decision” to understand just how the government of Israel mishandled the aftermath of the second Lebanon War in 2006 – David Bedein]
The Israeli Army has been training for a war with the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah.
Israeli Military sources said the army has intensified training for a war with Hizbullah over the next few months. They said exercises have been conducted in several locations, including the Golan Heights, Jordan Valley and Negev Desert.
“The exercises were based on the need for a rapid ground offensive in Lebanon,” a military source said.
The army preparations took place amid threats by Iran and its proxies of a war with the Jewish state. Hizbullah was said to have amassed an arsenal of 60,000 rockets, many of which were deployed in southern Lebanon.
The sources said Teheran has assigned Hizbullah a leading role in retaliation for any Israeli or U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. They said Hizbullah, trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also formed infantry units and mobile rocket squads to invade Israel from Lebanon.
The Israeli exercises have consisted of Merkava-class main battle tanks, Namer armored personnel carriers and other combat vehicles. The sources said the aim was to achieve rapid mobility and capture Hizbullah rocket and other targets.
In August 2012, the army conducted a night infantry exercise in the Jordan River. During the maneuvers, the Golan Brigade’s Battalion 13, accompanied by MBTs and APCs, crossed the Jordan River in what was meant to represent Lebanon’s Litani River.
The exercises marked a revision of military strategy over the last five years. In 2006, the Israel Air Force was used to attack Hizbullah bases and particularly rocket launchers in what was regarded as an unsuccessful effort.
Hizbullah has also been training. Over the last month, Hizbullah, directed by IRGC, mobilized 10,000 fighters for an exercise around the Litani River. “The assessment is that Iran and its proxies were preparing for a regional war over the next year,” the source said.
