The Israeli army said Thursday it has concluded an “unconventional” military exercise simulating the occupation of a “hostile village” through the use of robots and modern technologies that allow troops to accomplish their mission without putting the lives of soldiers at risk.
The Israel Hayom newspaper, a mouthpiece of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, published details about the drill, which was conducted in a village assumed to be controlled by Hezbollah.
“The Israeli forces utilized robots capable of gathering information ... to attack targets,” the newspaper said, explaining that Israeli soldiers control the robots from a distance of ten meters.
Quoting military sources, the newspaper said that in the past three years, the technical department operating under the ground forces of the Israeli army has reached a new understanding for handling battles against hostile forces, in a way that allows them to combine human and robot soldiers.
“The robot soldiers help boost the effectiveness of the fighting teams in any war,” Israeli officers told the newspaper.
Technicians responsible for the new Israeli program said that robots would also reduce human losses, have a high capacity to fight in harsh conditions and are never tired.
Separately, the Israeli army continued Thursday its operation to locate and destroy cross-border tunnels dug by Hezbollah, more than two weeks after announcing their discovery on the frontier with southern Lebanon.
The United Nations peacekeeping force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) confirmed that two of the existing four tunnels, which Israel announced it had discovered along the border, had violated the Blue Line and Security Council Resolution 1701.
UNIFIL spokesperson Andrea Tenenti said that the Israeli army informed the peacekeepers about its intention to blow up the tunnels.
