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Israeli Paratroopers Prepare for Airborne Strikes
(UPI) The Israeli military on Jan. 17 conducted its first full-scale parachute exercise in 15 years for at least 1,000 paratroopers in its airborne brigade as part of military preparations for "any possible scenario." "Every Western military which respects itself needs to know how to parachute large forces, bring them together and then launch an attack," said airborne brigade commander Col. Amir Baram of the nighttime drop. The most probable targets for airborne forces would be Hizbullah's fortified missile depots in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon. Hizbullah possesses more than 42,000 missiles and rockets. Hundreds of these are capable of hitting anywhere inside Israel, including all major cities and towns as well as strategic targets such as air bases. The paratroop exercise dovetails into the special operations offensive concept the military is honing to hit Israel's enemies on their own turf. In December, the Israeli military formed a new formation known as the Deep Corps which combines all special forces units under one command for operations in hostile territory.