All Israel Defense Forces (IDF) training exercises on the upper Mount Hermon this summer have been canceled due to environmental concerns, Haaretz reported. Aviad Blasky, an inspector for the Israel Nature and Parks Authority called the move an important step. "The very top of the Hermon is a unique area. In this area, spring is just now ending. Plants have stopped budding and are beginning to dry out and scatter their seed,” he said. “This is also a critical period for the wildlife. The young reptiles, mammals and birds who have emerged into the world are now learning how to manage on their own."
Yoav Perlman of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel says that "the Hermon has a special and sensitive ecosystem, inhabited by unique species that are found nowhere else." said the decision seemed natural to him. "We're a state that has an army, not vice versa," said Colonel Yehuda Yehohnanov, commander of the Hermon Brigade. Both the army and nature need the mountain and they need to find a way to live together, he added.