IDF announces military drill in Safed

The Israel Defense Forces announced a drill in and around the northern city of Safed, set to take place between Sunday morning and Monday evening.

An IDF statement on Saturday warned local residents that military and security vehicles would be traveling the roads around the city.

The drill was planned in advance and is geared toward “maintaining competency and vigilance of the troops,” the statement said.

Since the beginning of 2016, Israel has conducted a series of military drills designed to test the preparedness of the army and emergency response teams.

Amid fast-rising tensions along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip, Israel on Thursday carried out its largest civilian drill near the Palestinian enclave since its 2014 war with Hamas, according to a report on Channel 2.

Medics, the fire department and civilian response teams simulated a Hamas incursion into Israeli territory, including an attack on an Israeli kibbutz near the border and the taking of hostages by terrorists. The exercise, which was held at Kibbutz Erez, included troops overpowering the terrorists in the community’s dining hall.

Last month, the IDF held its first-ever major naval exercise training to counter increasing threats from Islamic State jihadists in the Sinai Peninsula off the coast of Eilat.

Members of the navy’s elite Flotilla 13 commando unit practiced responding to several scenarios including the firing of anti-tank missiles and rockets from the Egyptian side of the border and terrorists hijacking a boat with Israeli civilians on board.

In February, Israel and the United States held their biennial ballistic missile defense exercise named Juniper Cobra.

According to the IDF, the drill was designed to prepare American and Israeli soldiers for the threat of a missile attack, and was geared towards increasing cooperation between the two armies.