Israel Launches Large Scale ‘Deadly Arrow’ Military Drills to Train For War with Hezbollah

The Israeli Defence Force has launched the largest military exercise of the year, the Deadly Arrow, which is reportedly intended to focus to wartime communications between various headquarters in preparation for a possible war with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. The country’s armed forces issued the following statement regarding the drills: "The goal of the exercise is improving the IDF's attack ability and testing all levels [of the military] in an integrated way... Headquarters, conscripted troops, and reservist forces are taking part in the exercise alongside the air force, navy, and ground forces, as well as the intelligence, technology and logistics, teleprocessing, and cyber defence directorates.” The exercise simulated a war on multiple fronts with a focus on the northern front - where Hezbollah and Israel share a militarised border. Israel and Hezbollah have seen frequent clashes over the past 14 years, since the Lebanese militia dealt its neighbour its only military defeat in its history in 2006 when the Israeli Defence Force attempted an invasion of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah was founded in the early 1980s and has relied heavily on Iranian and North Korean support to maintain its military capabilities, with much of its leadership training in Korea and relying on a vast network of underground military bunkers, tunnels and arms depots built by Korean specialists in the early 2000s to counter Israeli air power. The militia is considered the greatest threat to Israeli security on any of its borders.