Photo: Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90
The Chief of the General Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, conducted an urgent assessment of the security situation following the morning rocket attack on the city of Metula in the north of the country. The IDF spokesman said on Friday that Israel is preparing for a decisive response.
“The IDF will respond strongly to the morning’s shooting,” the army spokesman said, without specifying the source of the attack. At the same time, he stressed that there are currently no changes in the directives of the Home Front Directorate (Pikud HaOref), which indicates that there is no immediate threat to civilians.
Metula, which is located near the border with Lebanon, is not the first time that it has been under fire from militants allegedly linked to Hezbollah. The IDF regularly conducts countermeasures in response to such attacks, while also increasing its security presence in the border region.
General Zamir is personally leading risk assessments amid rising tensions on both the northern and southern fronts. For several weeks now, the army command has been preparing for a possible expansion of the armed conflict in the north, in the event of a full-scale intervention by Hezbollah or Iranian-backed forces.
The IDF is expected to announce further steps in response to the Metula shelling in the near future.
