Israel confirms military exercises in West Bank

JERUSALEM – The Israel Defense Forces today confirmed it carried out military training exercises two weeks ago in the northern West Bank to prepare for the outbreak of confrontations with the Palestinians.

WND broke the story last week Israel conducted military training exercises in the West Bank, according to top Palestinian intelligence officials. At the time, Israel denied the claim.

The IDF today verified late-February exercises took place in the vicinity of Nablus, the largest West Bank city. The army said the training involved two battalions of paratroopers and was meant to prepare for routine security operations in the West Bank.

The Israel Defense Forces last week completed a large-scale, week-long operation in Nablus. The operation, codenamed "Hot Winter," utilized IDF battalions, reservists and border police guards and purportedly was aimed at arresting top wanted terror leaders in the city.

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Nablus is a stronghold of several major Palestinian terrorist organizations, most notably the Iranian-backed Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the declared military wing of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party. The Brigades and Islamic Jihad are responsible for every suicide bombing in Israel the past two years.

During the large operation, the IDF did not arrest any top terror suspects, but the army said it found three weapons factories as well as an arms cache.

One top Palestinian intelligence official said last week he found the operation "unusual" in that it involved a rotation of Israeli forces and "didn't achieve anything militarily as far as fighting terrorism."

"On the ground you had a massive number of soldiers who seemed to be conducting drills. They were in the city the entire week with units switching. Normally week-long military operations utilize the same units and don't keep switching troops. In the end, after a week of a major military presence, what did the IDF get as far as fighting terror in Nablus?" commented the top official.

"The operation was very clearly an urban warfare training exercise, likely for a confrontation with Syria or Iran," the official claimed.

Another top Palestinian intelligence official told WND, "Nablus happens to resemble very closely as a model the city of Damascus."

A spokeswoman for the IDF last week had denied Palestinian claims the large operation was for war training. She told WND the Israeli army arrested 11 militants in the Nablus operation, although she said they were lower-level and did not include any members of Israel's wanted list.

Abu Nasser, the second-in-command of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Nablus, told WND no members of his group or the Islamic Jihad terror organization were arrested during the Israeli operation.

"It didn't feel like we were even being targeted," Abu Nasser said.

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The claim of Israeli training follows recent reports in the Israeli media Syria, aided by Iranian officers, has been boosting its army and navy. The reports, denied by Damascus, claimed Syria last week was moving troops closer to the border with Israel.

Israeli security officials told WND Israel is not expecting confrontations with Iran or Syria. Speaking theoretically, they said if any war breaks out involving Iran, they expect Syria, Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists to join the fray and attack Israel.

The security officials said the greatest threat Syria poses to the Jewish state is the country's missiles. They noted Syria recently test-fired two Scud-D surface-to-surface missiles, which have a range of about 250 miles, covering most Israeli territory. The officials said the Syrian missile test was coordinated with Iran and is believed to have been successful. It is not known what type of warhead the missiles had.

In addition to longer-range Scuds, Syria is in possession of shorter-range missiles such as 220 millimeter and 305 millimeter rockets, some of which have been passed on to Hezbollah.

According to information received by Israel, Russia is set to conclude a deal worth several hundred million dollars transferring thousands of advanced anti-tank missiles to Syria. Anti-tank missiles used by Hezbollah during Israel's war in Lebanon last summer devastated Israeli tanks and caused the highest number of Israeli troop casualties during the 34 days of military confrontations.

Last week, a senior officer from the intelligence unit of the Israel Defense Forces announced Hezbollah is stronger today than before the 2006 Lebanon war.

"Hezbollah has reinforced, and it is stronger today than it was before the war in Lebanon," Gen. Yossi Beidatz, head of the IDF's intelligence research department, told the Knesset.

During the war in Lebanon, Hezbollah fired more than 3,000 rockets into northern Israel, killing 39 civilians and devastating many northern towns.

Beidatz also said Syria is reinforcing its military to prepare for the possibility of a new armed conflict in the region.

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