On Thursday evening, IDF Spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari made an effort to reassure Israelis at a news briefing that the country’s military is well prepared for whatever might come following threats by Iran to “punish” Israel.
The Islamic Republic of Iran is holding Israel for an air strike Monday in Damascus that eliminated two top Iranian generals and five additional military advisers.The air strike, which was clearly a surgical strike, destroyed a building that was adjacent to the Iranian Embassy in the Syrian capital but did not touch the embassy.
Iran and Syria claim the building was an Iranian consulate, as well as the residence of Iran’s ambassador to Syria.
Following is the full text of the IDF Spokesperson’s remarks.
In the past six months we have been in the midst of a multi-arena war, and we are on high alert in all arenas.
We are monitoring the threats and thwarting them constantly, from several arenas, and are in a high state of both defensive and tactical readiness.
We are constantly assessing the situation, taking every statement and every enemy seriously. We have raised the readiness of combat units as needed, wherever it was necessary, we have reinforced our defense systems, and we have planes ready for defense and prepared to act in a variety of scenarios.
I emphasize: IDF soldiers are well-deployed in both defensive and tactical arrays on all borders, and are prepared for a variety of scenarios.
We must be alert, and at the same time, I want to emphasize – there is no change to the Home Front Command’s guidelines at this time.
Should there be any changes in the guidelines, we will update you through the Home Front Command’s channels and also through the IDF Spokesperson’s channels, and if necessary, I will come here and speak to the public in an orderly and official manner, as we have done since the start of the war.
Your responsible and exemplary conduct, the civilians of the State of Israel, since the start of the war, enables lives to be saved. I call on you – to continue acting responsibly according to the guidelines. We will update you on any changes. My only recommendation is to be alert and responsible, to check if there are changes, to follow updates and to act according to any changes – that’s all.
Over the past day, we initiated GPS disruptions in order to neutralize threats. This effort assists in neutralizing some threats, therefore this method was used. We are aware that these disruptions cause inconveniences, but it is a vital and necessary tool in our defensive capabilities.
During the war, we faced a wide range of threats launched toward the State of Israel – missiles, UAVs, and cruise missiles – they were launched from several arenas, from Yemen, from Syria, from Iraq, from Lebanon, and also from Gaza. Most of which are manufactured by Iran. We intercepted them at a high rate using our defense systems, as well as the systems of our partners from the United States Armed Forces, which is deployed in the region and also intercepts aerial threats headed toward the State of Israel. We have a multi-layered defense system and we have planes in the skies, around the clock for a long period of time now.
We are prepared for all scenarios. This has been the case for almost half a year – and still when we need to reinforce, we do so and when we need to hone, we hone our assessments and that’s exactly what we are doing.
We continue to conduct the war responsibly and will continue to update you in a transparent manner consistently on any development.
