Hezbollah parading US made M113 APC’s in Syria (Youtube video capture)
The Israeli military has “drawn up plans to evacuate civilian communities in the North in the event of war with Hezbollah”, Haaretz has reported.
This is the first time that details of the plan have been published. According to the paper, “the move marks a stark departure from consensus Israeli doctrine and is likely to spark heated debate.”
The plan, called ‘Safe Distance’, “is intended to be put into effect from the moment war breaks out in the north or, in the case of an intelligence warning, in the hours before the fighting begins.”
Some 50 communities close to the Lebanese border are covered, home to around 78,000 people.
According to an unnamed senior Israeli officer quoted by Haaretz, the plan is designed to cope with the possibility of Hezbollah forces crossing the border and reaching Israeli communities.
Haaretz states that “there are plans to evacuate inhabitants of specific communities to Jerusalem, Eilat, the Jordan Valley and West Bank settlements near Tul Karm and Jenin.”
MEM
