By Xinhua
Jerusalem : The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) decided on Thursday to cancel a field exercise in the Golan Heights in order to “avoid unnecessary tension” with Syria, local newspaper Ha’aretz reported on its website.
The report quoted IDF sources as saying that Israel wanted to “remove any shadow of a doubt the Syrians could have that the field exercises are for training purposes only.”
The IDF decided to limit the exercise to the Galilee for it was afraid that Syria would view the Golan Heights portion of the exercise as preparations for war, the report said.
The exercise reportedly would have been the largest of its kind carried out by the IDF in years, combining extensive forces from the Northern Command and the air force and navy.
The Golan Heights is a plateau on the border of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. It is about 1200 square km in area. Israel captured Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War and has occupied them since then.
In July, the IDF carried out one of the largest infantry exercises in recent years in the Golan Heights region, training for conflict with Syria and Hezbollah. Syria did not accept Israel’s claims that the maneuvers of its forces on the Golan Heights were “for training purposes only.”