29th of November - The Holy Land

The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) will increase the level and intensity of training during 2007. This was stated by various military sources and is a direct (and expected) result of the war with Lebanese terrorist group, Hezbollah, which waged during July and August. Many faults were discovered during the war, in which Israel lost over 130 soldiers and had many of its northern towns and cities bombed repeatedly with rockets launched out of Lebanon. Many of these faults were attributed to the decrease in combat training in the IDF over the last few years. Many of the reserve soldiers who took part in the war found themselves to be rusty if not altogether unfamiliar with part of the equipment and weaponery and with coordinated combat procedures. This the IDF aims to change in preparation for another conflict with Hezbollah or even Syria and Iran. The IDF has been promised a massive increase in the budget of 2007 in order to finance this increase as well as the necessary replenishment of its munitions. Several intelligence assessments predict a military conflict as early as 2007 in the northern border of Israel coupled with increased terrorist activities in the Gaza strip.