The IDF carried out an exercise simulating the capture of Israeli territory in the Galilee by Hezbollah forces. PHOTO: Human Security Centre

Israeli forces carried out a major exercise on Tuesday morning simulating the capture of northern Israeli territory, specifically a town at the very tip of the Galilee region, by Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, Israeli news site 0404 reported.

A number of different units in the Israel Defense Forces participated in the simulation, according to the report.

Over the course of the past nine years, since the end of the Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah and its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, have repeatedly threatened to capture and hold Israeli territory in the Galilee should an armed conflict break out.

Tuesday’s exercise was held to prepare the IDF for exactly such a scenario, in case Hezbollah actually attempted to cross the border and capture an Israeli town or settlement in the country’s northern reaches.

The Finger of the Galilee, a panhandle jutting up into Lebanese territory and surrounded on all sides by areas controlled by Hezbollah, would be especially vulnerable to such an attack.

An Israeli military official told 0404 that the IDF was “carrying out, in a set fashion, exercises that simulated different scenarios.” The goal is to ensure that “all forces are always ready to respond to any security threat,” the source said.