BEIRUT: At dawn Tuesday, Israel began the largest military exercises in 19 years to simulate a battle against Hezbollah using ground, air, sea and even cyber forces, the Times of Israel reported.
The news site reported that the operation was dubbed “The Light of the Grain,” adding that the exercises will continue for 10 days.
It will include the deployment of drones, the navy, fighter jets and helicopters, in addition to tens of thousands of soldiers and reservists.
For the first time ever, Israel’s military cyber units will take a central role in the exercise.
“They have a postmodern army, one which relies on hybrid [vehicles], it relies on stealth, mobility and system integration, it relies on speed. [He] who controls speed controls everything,” Elias Hanna, a strategic analyst, told The Daily Star.
Reports emerged that Israel will deploy, among other armaments, “stealth” tanks for the first time, which will not be detectable by radar and include cutting-edge features.
“Their [Merkava] tanks detect when the missile is fired at it, runs it through its algorithm and destroys the projectile,” Hanna said.
“They want to test this marriage between different [air, land and sea] units and how they coordinate.”
Ever since Israel fought a 34-day war with Hezbollah in 2006, the Jewish state has been developing countermeasures to mitigate the threat posed by the force’s rockets.
The conflict erupted on July 12, 2006, when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers along Lebanon’s southern border.
Israel responded and the localized incident swiftly escalated into a devastating aerial bombardment campaign across the whole country that killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians.
About 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were also killed.
A U.N.-backed cease-fire went into effect on Aug. 13, which resulted in the bolstering of the United Nations Interim Force between South Lebanon’s Litani River and the Blue Line to 10,500 soldiers with an expanded mandate.
- Hezbollah, Syria Deal Relocating ISIS Fighters Condemned by US-led Coalition
- Israel Threatens to ‘Bomb Assad’s Palace’ if Iran Continues Actions in Syria
Reached for comment on the drill, UNIFIL said that the exercise was outside the purview of the force.
“The drill is taking place outside our area of operations ... nothing has changed and the situation continues to be calm and stable,” UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti told The Daily Star Tuesday. “We [UNIFIL] are continuing ... activities – over 400 [operations] per day – in close coordination with the Lebanese Army.”
The southern front has been relatively quiet since 2006, yet Israel continues to violate Lebanon’s sovereignty by air, land and sea on a near daily basis. The Jewish state also routinely targets Hezbollah in Syria, seeking to limit the transfer of strategic arms to the group.
Hezbollah is believed to have replenished and upgraded its arsenal since the 2006 War. Its participation in the Syria conflict since 2013 has now boosted the already formidable group to be one of the most capable fighting forces in the region, able to wage war as both a guerrilla force and as a standard military.
However, Hanna explained that the exercise was an opportunity for the Israeli army to test out their battlefield readiness.
It comes at a time when the Syrian regime and its allies are in the process of taking back the last swaths of Daesh (ISIS) territory, after more moderate rebel factions have suffered catastrophic defeats.
“This is also a message for Iran, Hezbollah and Syria which are celebrating their victories. [Israel is] saying, ‘We have 30,000 personnel and reserve and that they are here and they are ready,’” Hanna said.
A Lebanese Army source contacted Tuesday said the military was not carrying out any exceptional measures during the Israeli exercise.
“There was nothing of this sort,” the source said. “Everything is normal in the south.”
UNIFIL frequently hosts and acts as the go-between at tripartite talks between the Lebanese and Israeli armies to provide a forum to maintain stability through direct dialogue.
Sources close to Hezbollah said they had no comment either on their reaction to the drill or their level of readiness when contacted Tuesdays by The Daily Star.
