’Israel’ Army Conducts Drills: Hizbullah Main Threat

Local Editor

The "Israeli" army Thursday staged military exercises in occupied Shebaa Farms, using machine guns and heavy artillery.

NNA's correspondent said in a dispatch from the Arqoub region in south Lebanon that the maneuvers, which kicked off at 6 am, were taking place at the northern edge of the occupied farms.

The report said at least 50 155-mm caliber artillery shells were fired during the drill as a drone hovered over Shebaa Farms and the highlands of al-Sheikh Mountains.

The exercises included one simulating incursion and another simulating rocket fire at oil rigs off the Occupied Palestinian coast.

According to the "Israeli" Navy, it has "raised its alert levels, and drafted operational doctrines to meet the challenge of above- and below-surface warfare carried out by "terrorist" groups, who continue to expand their capabilities, and pose a real threat."

The latest exercise featured an innocuous Lebanese fishing vessel suspiciously approaching towards Occupied Palestinian waters adjacent. The Navy ships on patrol were then called into the area.

Soldiers from the "Israeli" Navy's Snapir unit acted out the role of the Hizbullah Resistance men, in order to manifest the threat posed by these incursions to the soldiers participating in the exercise.

"Our goal is to stop the threat out at sea, to identify the threat as a suspicious vessel in Lebanese waters," an officer from the Navy's command told ynet. "Almost everyday our marine control observers identify these Lebanese fishing boats near the maritime border, and we are always prepared to repel them if they come close.

An event like this could occur at any moment, and not only during periods of conflict, and that's why we are always on guard. A boat with an engine coming from Lebanon can be inside of "Israel's" territorial waters within a matter of minutes, and unload armed swimmers or divers towards the beach."

According to the officer from the Navy's 914 active security company, "An incursion by boat can take 2-5 minutes, and when combined with the time it takes to swim the rest, we are talking about 7-10 minutes for an attack of this type. The border is always tense and there is a constant sense of operational readiness, and our job is to maintain this readiness year round."

The Navy is also preparing for the threat posed by Hizbullah divers, who can try and come from the Lebanese beaches, located a mere couple of hundred meters away.

"We can see Hizbullah stockpiling and developing capabilities, and we are prepping up against these enemy capabilities, and not just according to the enemies' intentions.

"We must assume that every capability available today will be used against us, and we have prepared for all of them, even when they are not in the framework of a war."

A second "Israeli" exercise simulated interception of an anti-ship missile of the likes possessed by Syria and Hizbullah, using a Barak 8 surface-to-air missile installed on the navy's missile boats.

The current "Israeli" assumption in the "Israeli" is that Hizbullah can hit oil rigs, which supply about 60 percent of the electricity consumed in "Israel".

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team