Why did Hezbollah stage war games?

Sayed Emad Hosseini: World media made headlines about massive war games of the Lebanese Islamic Resistance Movement of Hezbollah staged a few days ago. Sheikh Hassan Ezzoddin, a senior Hezbollah leader described the war games as part of the movement's projects to maintain its preparedness to protect the Lebanese territorial integrity.

According to the reports, the Hezbollah forces carried out the drills, billed as the largest in the history of the movement, in three days.

Der Spiegel the same day that Hezbollah launched the war games claimed that the two seized Israeli soldiers had died in Lebanon and there was no hope they would return safe and sound to Israel. The report by the journal which is close to German bodies which are mediating the Israeli negotiation with Hezbollah triggered contradictory speculations.

Several anti-Hezbollah media speculated that Israel had become frustrated about the fate of its soldiers and so seeks a bitter reprisal. They then interpreted Hezbollah war games as a deterrent to prevent the opposite side from taking any move. They tried to corroborate their thesis by noting the presence of over 50 thousands Israeli forces alongside the southern Lebanese border.

Pro-Hezbollah analysts however made clear that the movement would not release any information to the Israeli side free of charges, adding that the German journal allegations were only timed to press Hezbollah to release any information at hand out without precondition.

One way or another, the war games helped reveal the prowess of the Lebanese movement as the war games were staged in an area closely watched over by the Israeli air services and the UN forces.

Israel is bitterly hungry for a project to abandon the disgraceful face it picked up following its army's defeat in the 2006 summer war against Lebanon. America on the other hand has never hidden its desire to see the movement annihilated.

Hezbollah proved it remains to be a key player in the Lebanese scene. It also played down any thought that the movement could be destroyed summarily by an Israeli attack. These are of note especially as Lebanese political scene is entangled with high-stake developments before presidential elections.