"Little Gaza" in Tze'elim

"Little Lebanon": Israel builds a mock Lebanese village on the ruins of Za‘ura in the occupied Golan for live-fire training (Yedioth Ahronoth)

Israel has inaugurated a new military base named “Little Lebanon” on the ruins of the destroyed Syrian village of Za‘ura, located in the northwestern occupied Golan Heights. The site has been designed to resemble a southern Shiite village, featuring fortified towers, solid buildings, tunnels, and surveillance cameras, providing a training environment that simulates urban warfare with live ammunition for soldiers and tanks.

The site also includes a non-commissioned officers’ camp, inaugurated this month as the northern counterpart of “Little Gaza” at the Tse’elim base, which has been in use for nearly two decades. The Commando Brigade’s school conducted its first exercises there in the past two weeks.

Israeli officials admit that the project was based on lessons learned from confrontations with Hezbollah. Lt. Col. Zohar, head of the training division in the ground forces, stated:

“We learned from fighting against the combatants in order to be better prepared for the next campaign.”

The training ground also reproduces the rugged terrain of southern Lebanon, including shrubs, rocks, and elevated structures that dominate the surrounding area.

This new plan comes after years of delays and the failure of a previous project known as “Shenir”, which cost millions of shekels. Unlike “Little Gaza”, where the use of live ammunition is prohibited, “Little Lebanon” allows full use of live fire, bulldozers, and explosives.

The facility already contains dozens of buildings of varying heights: single-story houses with inner courtyards in the Lebanese style, as well as three- to four-story structures, and even high-rise towers. These preparations are intended for the possibility of clashes inside towns in southern Lebanon, not only in the border villages.

It is worth noting that was an Alawite village in the Golan that was subjected to ethnic cleansing and forced displacement by Israeli occupation forces. The village was completely destroyed and was not merely “abandoned,” as Israeli media claims.