Barak: Hizbullah significantly stronger

Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited an IDF drill in the Golan Heights on Tuesday and said that "it's not by chance that the army is training in the Golan so extensively.

Barak was accompanied by IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi, Head of the GOC Army Headquarters Major-General Avi Mizrahi and other senior IDF officers.

"We are seeing a significant strengthening by Hizbullah in the past few years. We're monitoring any possibility of a shift in balance (of power) due to the Syrians supplying Hizbullah with advances weapons' systems.

"We're doing what needs to be done, preparation wise. I'd rather not elaborate. If we need to take action we'll be ready," he said.

Barak with IDF Chief Ashkenazi (Photo: The Defense Ministry)

When asked about a possible armed conflict between the IDF, Syria and Hizbullah, Barak said: "The fact that we're conducting a live-ammunition training drill, with all the (relevant) commanders and troops, is a pivotal part of the moves led by the chief of staff in the past 18 months.

"The training has changed the units' readiness to the core, and enhances their ability to carry out combat missions, should they be required to do so.

"The IDF is re-focusing on its core values and the right kind of training mode," he continued. "It is our duty as the government to make sure that the IDF has the means necessary to keep the training up."

As for the Finance Ministry's intention to cut the Defense Ministry's budget, Barak said that "Israel is a country in which security is made up not only of tanks and jets, but also of education and welfare… but we do not have the luxury of taking away from the defense budget."

And what of the ceasefire between Israel and the militant groups in Gaza? "It seems promising so far," he said. "We've had about 10 rocket incidents in the past six weeks, and compared to the hundreds we were seeing each week, this gives us the ability to exert all viable options for Gilad Shalit's release.

"Every quiet week is a good one… the government has to tend to the social and financial infrastructure in the Gaza vicinity area," he added.

Chief of Staff Ashkenazi also expressed his satisfaction from the drill, saying that "the IDF is on the right track. Our competence is top-notch again, due to training, but we still have a ways to go and I think everyone understands that.

"Everyone is working hard and we're using everyday to make progress in our abilities to carry out our missions."

Commenting for the first time on the now-infamous Naalin shooting incident, in which a soldier fired a rubber bullet at a bound Palestinian during a rally against the construction of the West Bank security fence, Ashkenazi said it was "a failure in command."

As for the decision to dismiss Lieutenant-Colonel Omri Bruberg, the regiment commander who gave the order to fire, Ashkenazi said: "I think what happened with Omri is regrettable. He understands that. I see this as a failure in command and I told him as much.

"Omri will be transferred to another post; he'll go through what he needs to go through, and I'm not overruling the possibility of reinstating him in the future."