WATCH: IDF drill prepares for Hezbollah threat in stormy Golan Heights
"The goal is to prepare for a transition from one front to another, and from routine to emergency," a senior source in the 7th Armored Brigade says.
By NOAM AMIR/MAARIV HASHAVUAIDF drills during stormy weather in Golan Heights
In the middle of Thursday's harsh winter storm in the Golan Heights, the IDF launched a regimental drill, including tanks from the 7th Armored Brigade and the Reconnaissance Battalions of the Paratroopers Brigade and the Engineering Corps.During the drill, the battalion was redeployed from its operational activities in Judea and Samaria to the northern front in order to exercise possible battle scenarios against Hezbollah."The goal is to prepare for a transition from one front to another, and from routine to emergency," a senior source in the 7th Armored Brigade said. "We are not afraid of a storm. In fact the opposite is true, we are quite prepared, and it is important to drill the fighters in stormy weather as well. Of course the issue of safety is above all, but also operational preparedness," he explained.The drill saw soldiers come up to the Golan in Merkava Mark IV tanks, which left the factory just three weeks ago and got muddy for the first time.The drill tested scenarios on the northern front. "Hezbollah is the threat that we are drilling for," the source explained. "The dense and complicated Lebanese arena is full of challenges. Bases were disguised as military outposts, towns in the Golan were made to look like Arab villages and forests took the place of abandoned ruins," he explained.The source said that paratroopers with anti-tank rocket launchers were hidden in the forests, a realistic scenario in battle against Hezbollah. The battalion practiced identifying them, neutralizing them and eliminating the threat.