Authorities will hold a war drill next week based on
the scenario of missiles pouring in from multiple
fronts, with some carrying chemical warheads. The
“targets” in the drill include population centers and
strategic facilities.
Named “Steadfast Home Front 1,” the exercise will
simulate the firing of missiles from Syria, Lebanon,
and Gaza, and will include two air-raid sirens that
will ring out across the country next Monday, May
27.
During the sirens, members of the public are
encouraged to seek a preselected safe zone and
drill their responses to missile attack.
The first siren will sound at 12:30 p.m., and is
mainly aimed at schools and work places, while the
second, at 7:05 p.m., is to drill families at home.
The drill will test the responses of all first
responders – police, firefighters, and paramedics –
as well as the IDF Home Front Command and
national and local government, said Home Front
Defense Minister Gilad Erdan during a press
conference in Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
“This is one of the lessons the government and
emergency responders learned from the Second
Lebanon War, when they were caught unprepared,
and suffered from a lack of coordination,” Erdan
said.
He added that the risk of an actual chemical attack
on Israel was low, and that the main threat
remained a conventional missile attack. Some
enemy projectiles have conventional warheads
made up of several hundred kilograms of
explosives, Erdan said.
“Today, the scenarios we see are different than
before. We see Hamas equipping itself in the south,
and we see the abilities of Hezbollah, Syria, and
Iran,” Erdan added.
“Our enemies have despaired of trying to conquer
Israel and will try to exhaust and terrorize Israeli
civilians instead,” the minister said.
“We once asked if the enemy would dare fire
missiles on Ashkelon, Tel Aviv… and Haifa. I think
these questions no longer have a place. The answer
is clear. The question now is, when will they fire on
population centers? It can happen tonight, or next
week.”
During the drill, authorities will simulate hundreds
of missiles striking the Gush Dan metropolitan area
in central Israel. Erdan said the home front’s ability
to contend with that scenario is “no less important
than the IDF’s offensive capabilities.”
Home Front Command head Maj- Gen. Eyal
Eizenberg said that any future war would result in
significantly higher casualties among Israeli
civilians than past conflicts. He described the
Second Lebanon War as a “taste, but not more” of a
future clash.
The Iron Dome rocket interception system will not
be able to defend civilians in the event of attacks
from northern arenas, Eizenberg stressed.
“The home front will experience what it has not
experienced in the past, should such a conflict
erupt. We have to reach a place where the home
front is strong, and decision makers are free to
operate,” he added.
Eizenberg also had a warning for Israel’s enemies.
“Israel has offensive destructive powers many
times more powerful than that of our neighbors. I
suggest that before they power up their engines, our
neighbors weigh up their decision carefully,” he
said.
Asked by the The Jerusalem Post whether current
tensions with Syria meant that the timing for such a
national drill was less than ideal, Eizenberg
responded, “It will only advance our preparedness if
something happens in our area.”
He went on to say that responses to chemical
attacks are primarily about effective command and
control capabilities.
“That’s what we are testing,” Eizenberg said.
Gabi Ophir, director-general of the Homeland
Security Ministry, said that even though the chances
of chemical missiles are “very unlikely, we’re
taking no chances.”
Next Thursday, a day after the end of the exercise,
Erdan will brief fellow ministers on the week’s
events in a meeting that will be attended by Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
The homeland security minister will then spend the
following two months assessing the results of the
drill.
“We will test the full range of our alert systems…
from air sirens to social media networks, to media
outlets… to cell phones. All of the tools at our
disposal,” Ophir said.
According to the Home Front Command, civilians
outdoors who hear a siren should seek shelter. If
there is none, they should lie on the ground with
their hands on their heads. If they are in a vehicle,
they should pull over and seek shelter. If there is
none around, they should follow the same steps as
above



www.jpost.com/Defense/War-drill-set-to-test-responses-to-chemical-attack-313930