The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) launched wide-range military maneuvers in Syria's occupied Golan Heights, the Damascus Press news website reported Thursday.

The IDF Wednesday started live-ammo land drill as hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers, backed by helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, massed to drill simulations of war.

The Golan Heights, formerly known as the Syrian Heights, is a strategic land and mountainous region at the southern end of Lebanon Mountains and remains a highly contested land striding the borders of Syria and Israel. Two-thirds of the area has been currently occupied by Israel since the 1967 war.

In October, 2010, Israel suspended military drill in Syrian Golan Heights after a helicopter crash.

In June, 2010, a Syrian report accused Israel of continuously seizing lands, violating liberties, keeping Syrian captives detained, and arbitrarily exploiting water and natural resources in the occupied Golan Heights.