Israel has prepared the population for a possible conflict on several fronts, which would take 30 days, says Israeli Defense Minister, Matan Vilnai, according to AFP. “There is no reason to be hysterical. Never before home front was more prepared,” Vilnai told the Maariv newspaper. “I can provide assurances that this time everyone will know exactly what to do,” Vilnai said, adding that “Israel was ready for a conflict scenario of 30 days, on many fronts”, which could result in up to 500 dead.
In early August, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced that it was analyzing the scenario of a military conflict with Iran and Hezbollah movement, active in southern Lebanon, with the hypothesis of Syrian involvement in this war. Experts from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, quoted by Haaretz newspaper, estimated that about 200 Israeli civilians would die in a conflict with Iran and Shiite Hezbollah movement, supported by the regimes in Tehran and Damascus. According to Israeli experts, the Israeli civilian death toll would reach 300 if Syria will be involved in the conflict.
If Israel would attack Iranian nuclear facilities, Iran will retaliate with missiles, but almost certainly with the involvement of the Shiite movement Hezbollah, located on the border between Lebanon and Israel. The conflict could also involve Syria, in the context of Bashar Al-Assad regime being, besides Iran, an active supporter of Hezbollah.
Political leaders in Jerusalem have suggested that Israel will avenge the terrorist attack in the Bulgarian resort of Burgas that killed five Israelis on July 18 and attributed to Hezbollah. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that there is no doubt about Hezbollah involvement in this terrorist act. “We have solid evidence. We will review this evidence together with the intelligence services in the U.S., UK and other countries,” said Barak. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres, Ehud Barak and Avigdor Lieberman, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs, all attributed the Burgas attack to Hezbollah.
Ephraim Halevy, former head of Israeli foreign intelligence service (Mossad), suggested that the Hebrew state could attack Iranian nuclear facilities in the coming weeks. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the insurance provided by United States on the possibility of military intervention against Iran are not sufficient to stop the Islamist regime in Tehran to acquire nuclear weapons. “The regime in Tehran believes that the international community will not show enough willingness to stop Iran,” Netanyahu said after U.S. Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, reiterated, in Israel, that the United States maintain the military option for Iran.
Islamist regime in Tehran claims that Iran’s nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes but the West and Israel suspect that Iran is trying to manufacture nuclear weapons. The United States has warned Israel not to undertake any unilateral attack against Iranian nuclear facilities, but Netanyahu suggested that Israel could opt for a military intervention.
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