Israel holds nationwide missile attack drill
Pastor Dale Morgan
Israel holds nationwide missile attack drill*
Security forces, rescue services participate in massive Home Front
Command drill simulating rocket landings, Qassam fire, unconventional
terror attacks and security prisoner riots. Air raid siren sounded in
south, center of Israel at 2 p.m.
Anat Berehskovsky
Published: 03.20.07, 14:05 / Israel News
The Home Front Command on Tuesday held a nationwide drill simulating
simultaneous terror attacks in different places across the country.
A 90-second air raid siren was sounded in southern and central Israel ,
for the first time in such a drill.
The Home Front Command decided not to sound the siren in northern Israel
and in the Gaza vicinity, in order not to cause panic.
The Israel Police and all security and rescue forces – including Magen
David Adom and fire brigades – as well as the government offices and
some local authorities took part in the drill.
The drill was temporarily halted in the center of Israel Tuesday morning
after security forces received a warning on terrorists' plans to carry
out a terror attack. Road 2 was blocked for traffic in the Sharon
region, north of Tel Aviv, and large police forces were dispatched to
the area.
Chemical attack in Be'er Sheva
In Ramat Gan, police simulated an attack by two terrorists on a school.
In Be'er Sheva rescue services simulated a chemical terror attack.
Southern District Commander, Major-General Uri Bar-Lev said at the end
of the drill, "These are only part of the incidents we are simulating.
Our final goal is to cause all emergency forces to work in a more
efficient way in order to save lives. This evening we will begin the
inquiry stage in order to learn what requires improvement."
Hundreds of police officers, fire brigades and Magen David Adom teams
were dispatched to the streets of Be'er Sheva as part of a drill, while
a police helicopter supervised the activity from the air.
Sderot: Dozens of Qassam rocket
As part of the drill, security forces simulated the landing of dozens of
Qassam rockets on a Sderot school, causing a large number of casualties.
"We are familiar with this incident from our daily routine in Sderot and
this is not new to us. Therefore, the forces were prepared and dealt
with the incident in the best way possible," said Major-General Bar-Lev.
Asheklon: Riots in security prison
Another incident simulated Tuesday was Palestinian prisoners' riots in
Ashkelon's Shikma Prison, where many Hamas members involved in firing
rockets at the area are jailed.
Vered Luvitch and Shmulik Hadad contributed to the report