JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are conducting
in northern part of the country the largest military drill since the Second
Lebanon War in 2006, local newspaper Ha'aretz reported Tuesday.
The four-day military operation, started from Sunday, was continuing in
north Israel's Galilee region, the report said.
The maneuver was originally planned to take place also in the occupied
Golan Heights, which Israel took from Syria in 1967 Mideast War, but the IDF
decided to cancel that part of maneuver only two days before the drill for fear
that increasing tensions with Syria.
The maneuver involved ground, air and naval forces as well as intelligence
and S4 units, said local newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, adding that no live fire
would be used in the drill.
A similar drill had been held a month before the Second Lebanon War.
The objective of the exercise is "to synchronize the decision making
process between the various military bodies in the midst of a crisis situation,"
it said.
Yedioth Ahronoth also said that the maneuver will further pressure the
decision makers by complicating the combat scenarios with various possible
political developments as well as the opening of a new front in southern Israel.
