JERUSALEM, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Israel's army said on Wednesday that it exposed a secret force of Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia, in the Golan Heights.
"The Hezbollah terrorist organization has begun an attempt to establish and entrench a covert force in the Syrian Golan Heights which is designed to act against Israel when given the order," the army said in a statement.
According to the army, the Iran-backed Shiite group has built a unit dubbed the "Golan File," which is working to gather intelligence on Israel and the area of Israel's disputed border with Syria.
"The network is new and currently focuses on becoming familiarized with the Golan Heights area. It is intended to eventually control teams of Syrian operatives who will launch attacks against Israel," the statement read.
The army also said Israel is determined to act against Hezbollah's attempt to entrench itself in the Golan Heights.
Israel Defense Forces "will act with all our might to force this terrorist organization out of the Golan Heights and ensure the stability of the region," said Golan Division Commander Amit Fisher.
Sarit Zehavi, a former IDF intelligence official, told reporters that Hezbollah "has been trying a few times to establish a military infrastructure on the Syrian side of the Golan" in the past few years.
According to Zehavi, the exposure of the Hezbollah cell, along with the recently uncovered tunnels that cross from southern Lebanon into Israel, shows a scenario that "Hezbollah militants will try to enter Israel and carry out the battle on the Israeli land" in the future war.
Israel controls part of the Golan Heights, a territory it captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.
Israel considers Hezbollah and Iran its biggest enemies.
The last round of full-fledged war between Israel and Hezbollah took place in southern Lebanon in 2006. The 34-day war ended with a fragile truce.
