Massive IDF drill prepares for Syrian attack on the Golan
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 27, 2007
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The IDF on Thursday held intensive training maneuvers in preparation for a
feared Syrian attack on the Golan Heights.
Hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers, backed by helicopters and
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, massed in the Judean Desert to drill simulations
of war. The training exercise focused on Brigade 401 and its utilization of
Israel's most advanced tank - the Merkava Mark 4 - against the Syrian
advanced Russian-made T-72.

Since the Second Lebanon War, Military Intelligence has claimed that war
with Syria is now closer than ever, and the IDF is on heightened alert in
the North in preparation for the possibility of a surprise attack.

The second Lebanon war: JPost.com special report

President Bashar Assad, analysts have said, was empowered by Hizbullah's
surprise success while fighting the IDF. The assessment is that he might be
motivated to launch hostilities in an effort to retrieve the Golan Heights,
either by initiating a surprise attack to capture one or two Israeli
communities or by firing long-range ballistic missiles at the home front.

The assumption within the defense establishment is that while war with Syria
would definitely be of a conventional nature, Damascus would most likely
utilize its strong ballistic missile arsenal and its division of several
thousand commandos.

Thursday's drill indicated that the IDF has not ruled out the possibility
that a war would also entail tank battles, once believed to have been a
relic of historic wars like the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War
in 1973.

The simulation began Thursday with the tanks gathering in an offensive
posture on the outskirts of the battlefield. The first mission given to the
armored forces was to create passageways and build makeshift bridges over
deep ravines, similar to the valleys and rivers in the Golan Heights.

The tanks were backed up by artillery fire and supported by infantry troops,
some traveling in armored personnel carriers and others being flown into the
field by transport helicopters.

One of the interesting changes instituted in the exercise was the use of
real IDF Merkava tanks to impersonate Syrian ones. In the past, the IDF
refrained from using tanks to impersonate the enemy due to the high cost,
making do with Hummer patrol vehicles. This time, the army apparently wanted
the real thing.

"We are preparing for the possibility of war on all fronts," said Col. Roni
Belkin, deputy commander of Division 162. "To do that, we need to find a
solution for a wide range of scenarios."

In one of the possible scenarios envisaged by analysts, Syrian soldiers
sweep across the Israeli side of the border, taking over the northern
community of Merom Golan with an elite commando unit from the 14th Special
Forces Division of the Syrian Armed Forces. Simultaneously, Syrian Chief of
Staff Gen. Ali Habib gives the order and hundreds of T-72 tanks from the
Damascus-based Republican Guard Mechanized Division - alongside thousands of
commandos and infantry troops - begin deploying along the Syrian side of the
border, ready for a broad offensive. The Syrian ballistic missile division
goes into high alert and coordinates are set for the long-range Scud D,
capable of hitting any target inside Israel.

On the Israeli side, in this scenario, Northern Command and Military
Intelligence are taken by surprise. IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi
Ashkenazi quickly comes to his senses and orders the mobilization of the
Armored Corps and Infantry Corps on the Israeli side of the Golan Heights.
Full-fledged war seems about to erupt.

Not long ago, this kind of sequence would have seemed inconceivable, but
since the Second Lebanon War it has turned into a genuine concern for the
Israeli defense establishment.

The rising tensions between Israel and Syria were underlined last week when
a top Syrian minister threatened to use military action to redeem the Golan
Heights.

If war with Syria erupts, the IDF would also face a strong array of advanced
antitank missiles, which Hizbullah successfully used last summer against IDF
tanks.

During the last battle of the war - what has become known as the battle of
the Saluki - Brigade 401 lost 12 soldiers to Hizbullah antitank missiles.
The assumption is that this weapon would play a key role in war with Syria.

To deal with this threat, the IDF has announced plans to purchase, by the
end of the year, several dozen "Trophy" protection systems developed by
Rafael, which are capable of intercepting incoming antitank missiles.

According to Brig.-Gen. Halutzy Rudoy of the Armored Corps, the most
significant aspect of the exercise was to learn how to effectively use the
tank in the battlefield. During the Lebanon war, tank crews failed to
activate smoke systems that can create tank cover as it maneuvers through
enemy territory.

"The tank is still an excellent tool for achieving our goals in the
battlefield," Rudoy said. "But you need to know how to use it."