Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi said in his first appearance before the Israel Defense Forces brass that "the reserves are the main strength of the IDF."

His statement signaled a departure from the policy of his predecessor, Dan Halutz, who minimized the importance of the reserves, a process that began before his time with budget and training cuts for the reserve forces.

	Advertisement

Officers from the rank of colonel and above from all branches of the IDF were present at yesterday's meeting at the Hatzor air force base. The gathering served as the opportunity for a declaration of principles by Ashkenazi, the new chief of staff, who took office about a month ago.

Ashkenazi talked for about an hour on a number of issues, first and foremost lessons learned from the war in Lebanon, and noted that the war ended with a sense of a missed opportunity.

He made few references to Halutz.

Ashkenazi said special emphasis would be placed in the coming year on training among both the reserves and the regular army, and told the officers that they should foster communication with reserve soldiers.

He said another lesson of the war was the need it demonstrated for a well-organized training system at both the command level and among combat troops.