Subscribe to Print Edition | Tue., October 30, 2007 Cheshvan 18, 5768 | | Israel Time: 18:47 (EST+7) web haaretz.com   Back to Homepage Print Edition Diplomacy Defense Arts & Leisure Real Estate Jewish World National Advertising Magazine Week's End Business Opinion Rosner's Domain Anglo File Books Travel

del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 09:06 05/07/2007 Syria says doubts IDF Golan Heights exercise is merely training By Yuval Azoulay and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondents Syria is unwilling to accept Israel's claims that the maneuvers of its forces on the Golan Heights are for training purposes only, an analyst on Syrian radio said Wednesday. Advertisement "Since Olmert said specifically that he is unwilling to enter into a dialogue with Syria, and senior American officials reiterate the same statements, we are unable to believe his lies," the analyst said. He repeated the official Syrian position that Israel is not a country interested in peace and is the source of regional instability. The editor in chief of the official daily Al-Thawra wrote Wednesday that Syria is expecting Israel to attack it at any time and warned that Israel would make a mistake if it did so. The Israel Defense Forces this week carried out one of the largest infantry exercises of recent years in the Golan Heights region, training for conflict with Syria and Hezbollah. Supplies were air-dropped, tanks provided covering fire and infantry forces trained in nonconventional warfare and countering anti-tank missile attacks. "We are training for every possible scenario. Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas in the Gaza Strip and terror organizations in the West Bank," an officer says. The IDF said the exercise was not intended to signal any attack on Syria, a statement Damascus did not accept. The IDF is trying to correct shortcomings discovered during the Second Lebanon War, a battalion commander said. The Golani brigade lost 20 fighters in the last war. The exercise's goal is to prepare both mentally and actively for any future challenge. "Last year we were less trained, we lacked resoluteness and decisiveness. With regard to mental preparation the problem lay in the sharp transition from routine to warfare," he said. A senior officer says that over the past year the exercises for reserve troops have increased dramatically. "The exercises are more structured. Each unit carries out specific exercises according to its goals and aims. Our emergency supplies have been renewed, there is a multi-year plan for weapons and personal equipment. Everything is based on the assumption that a reserve soldier's preparation should be similar to that of a regular soldier," he says. IDF officers are convinced that the army has learned many lessons from the last war and that the threats to which the forces had been exposed have been dealt with, especially the threat of Hezbollah's advanced anti-tank missiles. They believe Syria's army has limited capabilities and its air force is far inferior to Israel's. Therefore, a new war would resemble last year's fighting in Lebanon - commando combat in difficult terrain with large areas controlled by anti-tank units. In recent months the Golan Heights has become one of the IDF's main exercise areas. At times this requires closing off roads. Infantry troops and rows of tanks, armored personnel carriers and jeeps raise clouds of dust in grazing fields and the air is filled with low-flying helicopters and echoes of explosions. "This is the first time they let us practice with live fire," says a reserve soldier from the central region, after completing a two-week exercise in the Golan last month. It's like a medicine student who practiced only on a plastic doll and needs to feel the real thing. We've exercised attacks, fired from rocket launchers. But as for the Syrian threat, I did not feel like the commanders knew something that hasn't been written about in the newspapers," he said. Another reserve soldier, who completed an exercise at the Ze'elim base, reported a significant improvement in the quality of weapons and equipment. He said this was the first serious exercise he had taken part in since 2001. "This time we felt we were really training," he said. Bookmark to del.icio.us The killing files A binder in a German office holds details of the systematic mass murder of Jews. Save the children One third of recent sexual assault complaints emerged from Haredi communities.   1.   Syria doubts IDF excercise is merely training 05:47  |  Roxy 05/07/07   2.   Syria feels its ok for its buildup of troops BUT 06:00  |  Shepherd 05/07/07   3.   Don`t mess up with Syria 06:42  |  Atoo 05/07/07   4.   #3 Syria doubts IDF Golan Heights exercise is merely training 06:58  |  alex 05/07/07   5.   Syria doubts IDF Golan Heights exercise is merely training 07:00  |  louis 05/07/07   6.   Oooh Syria, sooo sooorrry! 07:02  |  Soldier 05/07/07   7.   Re: Atoo, you act as if Israel never fought Syria 07:12  |  RA 05/07/07   8.   #3atoo 07:18  |  franz 05/07/07   9.   Yummy, yummy war for the tummy! 07:25  |  Maureen Ann 05/07/07   10.   about time 07:28  |  tony 05/07/07   11.   War drums are beating... 07:33  |  Bill 05/07/07   12.   NUMBER 3 ATOO GOD BLESS YOU 07:45  |  VINCE 05/07/07   13.   SYRIAN DOUBTS 08:04  |  JACK 05/07/07   14.   ATOO D-2 IS RIGHT!!! 08:09  |  Michaelis 05/07/07   15.   #3: JUDGEMENT DAY 08:23  |  Chandran 05/07/07   16.   War with Syria = War with Iran + War with Hezbollah 08:52  |  Adel 05/07/07   17.   Cause and response 09:02  |  Daniel 05/07/07   18.   Again Don`t Mess With Syria 09:05  |  Atoo 05/07/07   19.   MAKE LOVE NOT WAR... 09:20  |  French Lover 05/07/07   20.   Syria - another kind of problem 09:20  |  Michael 05/07/07   21.   Atoo # 3 You are right 09:20  |  ChanahS 05/07/07   22.   at last a direct war in the horizon 09:23  |  tony 05/07/07   23.   Daniel - cause and response 09:26  |  ChanahS 05/07/07   24.   #12 Please write in small letters 09:36  |  Atoo 05/07/07   25.   Adel 09:53  |  Issac 05/07/07   26.   Tony # 20 10:14  |  ChanahS 05/07/07   27.   Atoo 10:18  |  ChanahS 05/07/07   28.   Lack of Sleep 10:56  |  Mark 05/07/07   29.   Atoo #18 Again don`t mess with Syria 10:56  |  Saimon 05/07/07   30.   Atoo 10:56  |  george 05/07/07   31.   Yes, don´t mess with Syria 11:13  |  Ron 05/07/07   32.   To steroid-taking Macho Man Atoo 11:15  |  Daniel 05/07/07   33.   Training for War (Maureen) 11:16  |  Barry 05/07/07   34.   Problem of the Semitic peoples 11:38  |  Me 05/07/07   35.   Don`t Forget the Aftermath 11:42  |  Mark of Lewiston 05/07/07   36.   Possible war this summer 11:45  |  Victory 05/07/07   37.   Disinformation already, ChanahS? 12:20  |  Murray 05/07/07   38.   OF COURSE NOT... ZIONIST LEADERS ARE PREPARING FOR WAR 12:21  |  Patriot 05/07/07   39.   The Syrians must get ready... 12:24  |  Papal 05/07/07   40.   HIZBULLAH HAS SET THE PRECEDENT... AND THE STANDARD 12:40  |  Kumar 05/07/07   41.   The only thing IDF did right is to set back Lebanon by 10 yrs 12:59  |  Time Machine 05/07/07   42.   syria doesn`t believe israel and nor do i 13:40  |  VIPER 05/07/07   43.   Guerilla warfare on the Golan this summer? 13:45  |  Abe Greenspan 05/07/07   44.   to all the arrogant people here 13:46  |  VIPER 05/07/07   45.   Who is the aggressor? 14:26  |  Briton 05/07/07   46.   Agressors 15:25  |  Murray 05/07/07   47.   Not Syria 15:37  |  Ex 05/07/07   48.   Comprehensive Action Against Bigot Regimes This Summer 18:30  |  Lord Krishna 05/07/07   49.   The falsely bloated military 18:42  |  Atoo 05/07/07   50.   #3.Atoo. Your simple deduction make good sence. 19:31  |  Antonio Sanchez 05/07/07   51.   #21. So say DM. ChanahS......... 19:43  |  Brad 05/07/07   52.   #27.ChanahS. over a 1 0 0 0 Lebanese Civilian deaths. 20:03  |  becky 05/07/07   53.   #26. Chanah.S. Wrong. SYRIA was provoked. 20:07  |  Fred 05/07/07   54.   Who wants War? 02:44  |  warmapril 06/07/07   55.   Syria provoked? 05:32  |  Inigo Montoya 06/07/07   56.   Chanah is right 05:33  |  Inigo Montoya 06/07/07   57.   #45 Briton - wow! Talk about "upsidown town"! 06:12  |  Johnboy 06/07/07   58.   Golan Heights...Syrian, Right ? 06:13  |  Reader 06/07/07   59.   escalating military maneuvers 08:06  |  Justin 06/07/07   60.   #59 One point to remember, Justin 10:10  |  Johnboy 06/07/07   61.   Illegally confiscated lands by Israel 21:51  |  John Ubele 11/07/07   62.   who is afraid of these al-qaeda fighters? 15:04  |  benz 30/10/07

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