Israel on high alert after US airstrike that killed Iranian general
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An Israeli ski resort near the Syrian border that was the site of a previous missile attack was closed to visitors on Friday, amid fears of Iran exacting revenge on Israel for the killing of a powerful Iranian general.
Israeli officials have expressed fears that Iran or its proxies in Syria may fire missiles at Israel as a form of exacting revenge on the US.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu intends to shorten his current trip to Greece and return to Israel early in light of recent developments.
Netanyahu’s office confirmed that he would return home early from Greece. Israel’s Army Radio said the military was on heightened alert and Defence Minister Naftali Bennett met military and intelligence chiefs for a “situational assessment”.
Members of Netanyahu’s security cabinet have been asked not to comment on the high-profile killings, which Israeli media interpreted as a bid to stave off retaliation from Iran’s proxies and allies in the region.
“There is a possibility — the chances are not high, but it exists — that the Iranians could harm Israel and drag us into this,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Army Radio on Wednesday. “It must be clear to them that we will respond with great force to any attack.”
There was no immediate Israeli response to the assassination of Soleimani, and the army did not place any other special restrictions on movement.
The Israel Defense Forces said it had ordered the Mount Hermon Ski resort in the Golan Heights was shuttered for the day “In light of a situational assessment.”
The move was made hours after a US airstrike on a pair of cars at Baghdad’s airport killed Qassem Soleimani, the powerful head of Iran’s elite Quds Force and a major player in placing Iranian troops and pro-Iran proxies in Syria. Other senior members of a pro-Iran militia in Iraq were also killed.
Mohsen Rezaei, a former head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which the Quds force is part of, threatened Friday that Tehran would take “vigorous revenge” on the US for the attack.
Iran’s top security body called an urgent meeting Friday over the “martyrdom” of Soleimani by the United States in Baghdad, semi-official news agency ISNA reported.
