Israel Prepares For War With Hezbollah: Massive Drills Simulate Large-Scale War

In threat to Hezbollah, IDF holds drill practicing massive attacks on group

 JUDAH ARI GROSS

The Israeli Air Force completed a three-day surprise exercise simulating a large-scale war against Hezbollah this week, including mock strikes on some 3,000 targets in one day, the military said, in a clear threat to the Lebanese terror group.

The hypothetical incident that kicked off this fictional conflict was Hezbollah shooting and damaging an Israeli aircraft — something the terrorist militia tried to do earlier this month when it fired anti-aircraft missiles at an IAF Heron unmanned aerial vehicle.

“This was a very broad exercise. The scenario that started this drill was a surface-to-air missile attack by Hezbollah against an Israeli UAV. The air force prepared for a retaliation, during which additional attacks were launched against another aircraft,” said an air force officer who took part in the drill, who can only be identified by his rank and first Hebrew initial, Col. “Yud.”

“In this exercise, we simulated the actions that the entire air force would take, going from peacetime to wartime, in order to deal with these threats, these attacks against our aircraft,” he said.

According to the Israel Defense Forces, dozens of aircraft — fighter jets, cargo planes, helicopters and drones — took part in the exercise, called “Galilee Rose.”  They were operated and assisted by conscripted and reservist forces, who were called up on short notice after the drill was announced on Sunday.

“During [the exercise], intense fighting was simulated, along with offensive operations, scenarios involving defending the country’s airspace, command and control operations, precise planning and wide-scale, powerful strikes. In addition, strikes on thousands of targets and the launching of many weapons were practiced to simulate war on the northern front,” the military said.

A senior air force official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the level of intensity shown in the exercise was unprecedented. To wit, the drill simulated the bombing of some 3,000 targets over the course of 24 hours, whereas in the more than month-long 2006 Second Lebanon War, roughly 5,000 targets were struck in total.

The exercise also simulated Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel, including the firing of cruise missiles and other advanced munitions, as well as standard, albeit massive rocket launches at both military and civilian targets in the Jewish state, the senior air force officer told reporters.

“Our goal was to inspect the mechanisms in irregular ways in order to see what works, what needs improvement and to carry out the air force’s missions during war,” the senior official said.

This included not only ensuring air squadrons had the ability to carry out the strikes, but more quotidian aspects of war — that logistics units could provide the munitions needed for them and that command centers could be staffed 24 hours a day.