Returning to Lebanon after the first battalion exercise in years: "At any moment, intense fighting could resume"
"Pushing the fighters to the limit": Just before returning to Lebanon and after years without a large-scale exercise, the 402nd Artillery Battalion completed training in the Golan Heights simulating maneuvers and advanced coping with the drone threat. "The next round will look different, we are preparing for the most intense thing," said the battalion commander. The brigade commander noted the soldiers' level of commitment: "A commander arrived at the exercise while his daughter was in the hospital."
The reality on the northern border continues to be at a tense boiling point. While the IDF is trying to maintain the agreed-upon framework and the political pilot, the forces on the ground continue to act simultaneously with determination to clear the area along the Yellow Line. This is out of a clear strategic understanding that as Israel and Lebanon continue to implement the agreements, Iran and Hezbollah will try to sabotage them and undermine stability. Against the backdrop of the explosive security reality, the 402nd Artillery Battalion ("Reshef") completed a large-scale battalion exercise this week in the Golan Heights, a complex exercise the likes of which has not been performed since the beginning of the war. Already in the coming week, the battalion will return to the heart of the operational mission in Lebanon.
"I received a battalion that went through a week of intensive cohesion and a complex chain of operational events," testified the 215th Brigade Commander, Colonel R., who arrived to meet the battalion's battery commanders. "It was important for the battalion commander to hold this battalion exercise despite the years that have passed since the last training. I saw fighters showing deep camaraderie, and battery commanders leading from the front with determined command as if they have been doing it for decades." Colonel R. noted the level of commitment of the career soldiers, such as a commander who went out to the exercise during sensitive moments when his daughter was hospitalized. "This is the human infrastructure upon which the Reshef Battalion relies," he said.
The exercise, which lasted from Monday until Wednesday night, simulated a maneuver outline in the northern arena and included long movements by day and night on mountainous routes, deployment in dense and built-up areas, high-rate artillery fire, complex logistical responses, and handling of extreme mass-casualty events. For the 402nd Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel P., the exercise was an operational breaking point designed to prepare the fighters for any extreme scenario. "We are in the midst of a very challenging week for the battalion," he shared. "We started with framework training and progressed to a battalion exercise with frequent operational changes, while maintaining operational continuity without rest. The daily and nightly movement in difficult terrain conditions, alongside the reduction of artillery firing ranges to destroy the enemy in depth, pushed the fighters to the limit of their ability."
In fact, this is an event that is not normal for the battalion's fighters. Artillery batteries are usually stationed at the border line and from there perform fire for the maneuvering forces deep in the territory. However, the deepening of the maneuver in Lebanon, the crossing of the Litani River, and the positioning at the borders of the Yellow Line, right on the outskirts of Nabatieh, caused the battalion's fighters to cross the border with the battery to reduce the firing range with the enemy. One of the central challenges emphasized in the exercise is the threat of explosive drones. According to Lieutenant Colonel P., the battalion learned deep lessons from past events, and especially from Operation "Lion's Roar" in which it suffered dozens of explosive drone attacks: "The drone threat requires us to act according to precise protocols, and today we know how to deal with it much better than a few months ago. We developed new techniques, performed jumps under fire, and the battalion demonstrated tremendous resilience in the face of a large number of drones."
Just before they return to Lebanon, the commanders on the ground emphasized that there is no room for complacency in the face of Hezbollah. "We are an operational echelon and are preparing for the most intense thing," concluded Lieutenant Colonel P. "At any moment, intense fighting could return against a bitter enemy that must not be underestimated. We trained the people for a deep maneuver in Lebanon so that we arrive wiser and more prepared for the next round, which will look completely different."
