Army, police drill for attacks in Galilee, Eilat as Iran-backed threats loom

Security forces are holding drills to simulate a response to an enemy assault or terror attack on Israel’s northern and southern borders, as the country braces for more violence with both Hezbollah and Iran threatening to hit Israel.

Statements from the army and police claim that the military drill in the eastern Galilee and police exercise in Eilat were planned well in advance, cautioning residents not to be alarmed by the simulations.

In the north, parts of which have been largely evacuated of civilians, the army says residents may notice large numbers of military vehicles moving around. “As well, the exercise will include forces simulating an enemy,” the IDF says in a statement.

The Upper Galilee Regional Council notes that residents may also be stopped at temporary checkpoints, and some roads could be blocked off during the duration of the exercise, set to end at 4 p.m.

In Eilat, police will drill to prepare how to respond to an enemy assault or terror activity in the resort city. The exercise will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The drills come a day after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and some 20 drones at northern Israel, while hinting it could carry out further action to avenge the killing of the terror group’s military chief. The assault was partially stymied by a preventative Israeli sortie that took out thousands of launchers, the IDF said.

Eilat, a resort city on the Red Sea, has been targeted a number of times by explosive drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iraq-based militia groups supported by Tehran. Iran has vowed to respond to the killing of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month, which it blames on Israel.