After a year, IDF declares Haredi brigade’s first battalion operational

Just over a year after its establishment, the IDF’s Hasmonean Brigade for ultra-Orthodox troops has declared its first battalion operational following a recent drill in the Golan Heights.

The Hasmonean Brigade’s Yonatan Battalion completed its first-ever battalion-level exercise yesterday, “concluding the battalion’s operational certification and its preparations for operational activity,” the military says.

The IDF says the drill included “combat in open terrain, raids and urban warfare.”

The establishment of the brigade is part of the military’s efforts to expand the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men, as it faces personnel shortages caused by the war. It also aims to demonstrate, despite opposition to enlistment from leading Haredi rabbis, that military service can go hand in hand with ultra-Orthodox observance.