The simulated exercises are a lower risk way for Hezbollah to remind Lebanese of its military prowess. 'Hezbollah try to needle the Israelis from time to time, but they're very risk averse,' said Nicholas Blanford, a Lebanon-based expert on the group affiliated with the Atlantic Council. As well as being an armed militia group sponsored by Iran, Hezbollah is now also a major force in Lebanese politics, and has in recent years avoided inviting Israeli attacks on the country. While Hezbollah periodically fired rockets into the Golan Heights from neighboring Syria, during the war there, it has become cautious about launching attacks from Lebanon. He met Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, to discuss 'the readiness of the Axis of Resistance' against Israel, according to a statement by the Lebanese militia. Ismail Haniyeh, the head of Hamas' political bureau, was in Beirut during the rocket attacks on April 6. The military exercise also follows a closing of ranks between Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian organizations. Hezbollah's show of force came ahead of 'Liberation Day,' the annual celebration of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon on May 25, 2000, and in the wake of a recent escalation of the Israel-Palestinian conflict in the Gaza Strip.

But it also comes at a time of heightened tension between Israel, Hezbollah and allied groups. The display was ostensibly to mark the upcoming anniversary of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon on May 25, 2000. The group invited local and foreign journalists to attend, giving them rare access to a sensitive military position to report on the event. The military exercise on Sunday at a Hezbollah base in southern Lebanon, close to the border with Israel, was the biggest public show of force by the militia in at least a decade. 'We will come at you from the sea, from the air and from the land.' 'Oh Zionists, we are coming for you, from places you know and places you don't,' a Hezbollah member shouted into a microphone, as fighters sprayed their targets with live ammunition in the simulated attack. Snipers hit metal cut-outs of Israeli soldiers from hundreds of meters away.

Rockets smashed into a hillside the Lebanese militia had dotted with 'enemy' Israeli flags. NEAR AARAMTA, SOUTHERN LEBANON - Muscle-bound Hezbollah fighters karate chopped terracotta tiles to smithereens with their bare hands, as others leapt onto fast moving dirt-bikes while wielding rifles. A Fighter from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah carries out a training exercise in Aaramta village in the Jezzine District, southern Lebanon, on Sunday.

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