Senior official assesses Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran will try to attack - and prepared in advance

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir conducted a surprise drill in the Home Front Command simulating a multi-front war, against a security assessment that Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran may attempt an offensive move against Israel. The drill included an airborne rescue team deployment to Zikim base, and all rescue brigade battalions practiced combat scenarios and destruction sites. The defense establishment is preparing based on this working assumption, though there is no early warning.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir conducted a surprise drill in the Home Front Command simulating a sudden multi-front war, against a security assessment held by the senior echelon. According to a report in Maariv, the defense establishment is preparing based on the working assumption that Hamas, Hezbollah, and possibly even Iran, will attempt an offensive move against Israel, though there is no early warning. The drill began at 06:15, when a rescue team from the Ram Battalion was airlifted by Air Force helicopters to Zikim base. All rescue brigade battalions were required to handle a variety of combat scenarios and destruction sites. Major N., operations officer of the Ram Battalion, said the team landed within twenty minutes and began a rescue drill simulating, among other things, the events experienced in 'Roar of the Lion'. According to her, the drill was intended to test readiness for a multi-front war, and she attested to the battalion's fitness and readiness given its intensive activation over the past three years. As part of the assessment, the intelligence picture on the borders and in the interior was presented, and efforts to improve multi-front defense, combat terrorist organizations, and deal with nationalist crime were detailed. The heads of the organizations agreed on steps to leverage each organization's relative advantage to ensure the proper and secure conduct of the upcoming elections.