, Israel was set to stage its biggest ever nationwide war drill March 20 to test the response of rescue services in case of an unconventional weapon attack.
The exercise, being staged jointly by police and the army home front command, will take place over two days in 132 towns and has been described by the authorities as the biggest since the creation of the Jewish state in 1948.
“The aim of the exercise is to prepare the different services and institutes operating in the civilian environment for various emergency scenarios, while implementing the lessons learned during the conflict in Lebanon in the summer of 2006,” the army said in a statement.
Among the scenarios is a chemical warhead strike on the main commercial city of Tel Aviv, rocket strikes on a power station and Ben Gurion international airport, and suicide bombing attacks in schools.
Authorities said sirens would sound across the country at 2 p.m. March 20, blasts would be heard periodically throughout the day, and traffic jams could be expected.
