Tuesday, 2 June 2015

Maarif: Israel Drills for Fear of Hezbollah Potential Control over North Areas

Local Editor

The Zionist entity will for the first time in its history conduct a drill on evacuating and accommodating the population during a war amid a growing missile capabilities possessed by Hezbollah and threats to control the Galilee, Maariv newspaper reported.

The 5-days maneuver, codenamed “Turning Point 15”, began on Sunday and will end Thursday.

Israeli drills (archive)

The newspaper quoted officials in the Northern Command that Israel will be forced in any future war to evacuate settlers from the places of the fighting. It reported that according to military estimates, Hezbollah will try to control areas in the North in any future war.

Maariv said the occupation authorities will for the first time in its history exercise the evacuation of settlers from the north and accommodate them in other places deep in the occupied Palestinian territories, for fear Hezbollah guerillas may enter to the north as part of a wide confrontation with ‘Israel’.

The paper also reported Israeli army fears of the possibility that Hezbollah may use short-range ‘Burkan’ (Volcano) missiles, which constitute hundreds of kilograms of explosive heads that may cause enormous damage to Israeli sites and settlements adjacent to the border with Lebanon.

The Zionist entity was concerned that Hezbollah or Iran will interpret it as Israeli preparations for a surprise attack. As such, it sent in recent days open and diplomatic calming messages, stressing that the drills being held this week are purely to practice emergency situations and are not a "cover story" that disguises Israel's true intentions for an attack.

According to the Ynet, this is the first time that a major drill is being conducted simultaneously by the air, land and sea branches of the IOF (Israeli occupation forces) – including the simulation of a large-scale conflagration in the north of occupied Palestine.

“The drill involves the Home Front Command, the Ministry of Defense’s National Emergency Authority (NEA), government ministries, local authorities, security organizations, the education system, and public and private entities. It’s focusing on Home Front preparedness for a conventional event, and its relationship with government ministries, rescue services and local authorities, as well as readiness for an emergency,” it said.