IDF Tests Soldiers with Surprise Drill near Syrian Border

The IDF staged a surprise drill Saturday night on Mount Hermon, and Nahal Brigade soldiers used live fire and took over a mock outpost near the border with Syria. The exercise had been planned, and the IDF said it was not necessarily connected to the current tension in the wake of a threatened American military attack on Syria.

Two battalions were involved in the exercise.

“We believe that we have to be prepared whenever when we have an opportunity” to train, said Lt. Col. Oshik Azulai. “Soldiers have an obligation to the country and to the IDF to be ready for war…with the enemy, and we have a lot of them,” he added.

The surprise drill was part of a three-month training period that will conclude in November with a major exercise, assuming the soldiers are not needed earlier for action on the Syrian or Lebanese front.