IDF soldiers speak next to a line of tanks in an open area near Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, Oct. 18, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Amir Cohen.

The Israeli military conducted a large-scale exercise over the past week to prepare soldiers for potential future fighting against Hezbollah in Lebanese territory.

The drill involved the 401st Brigade of the IDF’s Armored Corps and took place in the Jordan Valley.

Col. Dudu Sonago, the brigade’s commander, said, “As the situation in Syria stabilizes, Hezbollah is returning its forces to Lebanon. Despite the many casualties it took, the organization is coming back with extensive combat experience. They are no longer a guerrilla group, but a real army. They fought there in companies and battalions, very similar to armies.”

“They operate in civilian areas and are ready to use large quantities of anti-tank missiles,” Sonago noted. “This is a challenge the IDF must train for.”

The Israel-Lebanon border has remained largely quiet since the summer of 2006, when the IDF fought a 33-day-long war against Hezbollah — a Shi’a proxy of the Iranian regime.

In recent months, however, the IDF has detected and destroyed a number of tunnels dug by Hezbollah under the border.

Watch a video of the IDF exercise below (via Mako):