IDF Northern Command chief: We are busy with Hezbollah in Syria

Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi says northern sector changing rapidly, "and we must know how to change."

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Updated: JUNE 16, 2015 04:32
Lebanese Hezbollah supporters march during a religious procession in Nabatieh (photo credit: REUTERS)
Lebanese Hezbollah supporters march during a religious procession in Nabatieh
(photo credit: REUTERS)
The IDF’s Northern territorial Command is busy tracking Hezbollah in Syria, its chief, Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi told past and present commanders of the 91st Galilee Division in comments made available for release by the Army on Monday.
“The most prominent sphere is the change this sector has experienced and is experiencing. In our generation, under our watch, we are facing this challenge – and we must know to change,” Kochavi, whose past role was commander of Military Intelligence, said Sunday The Northern Command “is busy, today, with Hezbollah in Syria, and this is how it will be in the next war,” he said.
Participants in the event toured the northern border before being addressed by Kochavi and received an assessment about the current situation, as well as operational responses to threats.
Brig.-Gen. Moni Katz, commander of the Galilee Division, which secures the border with Lebanon, told the gathering his division bears a heavy responsibility during both peacetime and times of conflict.
The event examined four key phases of the Galilee Division’s history: Operation Litani, launched in 1978, targeting Palestinian terrorist organizations in southern Lebanon; the first Lebanon War; the IDF’s 15-year presence in the Security Zone from 1985 to 2000; and the period beginning with the 2006 Second Lebanon War until the present day.
In February, Kochavi warned that Israel must expect many future rounds of fighting with its enemies following Operation Protective Edge last summer, saying the 50-day war with Hamas was “one round of fighting, and many more will follow.”