Israel
Holds War Homefront Exercise To Defend Against Iran, Syria,
Gaza Missiles
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Jerusalem
--- November 2, 2011 .... Anticipating a real threat of missile
attacks against the civilian population of Israel, the Israel
Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command will be holding an exercise
in the center of the country tomorrow.
The
Israel Home
Front Command is preparing to conduct a rocket and missile
attack simulation in the Dan Region - the Center of Israel on
Thursday. The security and rescue forces of the IDF, police and
fire departments are to take part in the exercise, which will
concentrate mainly in Holon, a city south of Tel Aviv. Roads will
not be closed for the purpose of this drill, and the Israel public's
participation will not be required.
An air raid siren is scheduled to sound across the Tel Aviv metropolitan
area at 10 a.m. In the event of a true emergency, a second siren
will sound after the first. Heavy military traffic is expected
in the morning and explosions might be heard in the region.
Israel
has been under constant threat of Islamic Jihad - holy war terrorism
with rocket attacks from Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran, which has sworn to "wipe Israel off the map",
has missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv. Syria, a close ally
of Iran, is expected to join Iran in any attack against Israel,
US bases, European nations, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Yesterday,
Israel test-fired a missile from an IDF base, two days after Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of the "direct and
heavy threat" posed by Iran's nuclear program.
The afternoon
missile test launch near Tel Aviv, which had not been announced
in advance, coincided with a week long surge of speculation in
Israel media that Netanyahu was working to secure cabinet consensus
for a defensive attack on Iran.
The Israel
Defense Ministry described the missile launch from the IDF Palmachim
base as the test of the propulsion system of a missile on which
it declined to elaborate.
"This
is an impressive technological achievement and an important step
in Israel's advances in the realms of missiles and space, which
has been a long time in the planning," Defense Minister Ehud
Barak said in a statement.
Israel Radio's
military affairs correspondent, who is regularly briefed by top
officials on Defense matters, said a "ballistic missile"
had been launched. The term generally applies to long-range missiles
for delivering warheads.
Iran, which
denies wanting to produce nuclear bombs, wants Israel's total
destruction, prompting Netanyahu to compare it to the Nazis.
"A nuclear
Iran will pose a serious threat to the Middle East and the entire
world, and it of course poses a direct and heavy threat to us,"
Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Knesset address on Monday.
Israel remains
prepared against any threat from Iran and Syria, with weapons
deployed in a wide variety of operational means - including submarines.
If attacked, Israel is not expected to lead a counter attack but
would be coordinating all activity with the US, NATO and several
nations in both Europe and the Middle East.
Every child
in Israel has gone through extensive drills in both school and
at home to protect themselves against missile and rocket attacks
from Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and Syria. The children of southern Israel,
thousands from the cities of Sderot, Ashkelon, Beer Sheva and
Ashdod have suffered from PTS - Post Traumatic Stress - as a result
of thousands of unprovoked missile terror attacks from Hamas in
Gaza.