“We are prepared for war, which draws closer with every day that passes,” Nahal Brigade commander Col. Yehuda Fuchs said Thursday following the completion of a weeklong brigade-level exercise.

Held in the Jordan Valley, the drill simulated a potential war with Syria or Lebanon.

Nahal was established during the First Lebanon War in 1982 and is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

It is one of the IDF’s standing infantry brigades and played a key role in the Second Lebanon War in 2006. It recently completed a deployment along the border with the Gaza Strip.

“We are prepared for war much more than in previous years and every soldier understands that every day that passes brings us closer to the potential next war,” he said.

While the drill simulated the northern front, Fuchs said that the brigade was “flexible” and “dynamic” and would know how to adapt to challenges wherever they appeared. Fuchs said that soldiers walked more than 70 km. during the exercise, a sign of the prediction that this will be the case in a future war as well.

“If we find ourselves in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza or Judea and Samaria we will know how to deal with the challenge,” he said. (© 1995-2011, The Jerusalem Post 06/08/12)