The Israeli military carried out a surprise multi-front drill on Sunday in what it called an effort to gauge readiness to counter a cross-border assault and stave off any rerun of the October 7 attacks by Iran-backed Hamas militants.
"As part of the exercise, complex scenarios were practiced in order to examine the IDF's competence, processes for transitioning from routine to emergency, and the functioning of the General Staff and regional commands," the Israeli military said in a statement.
Taking place just ahead of the two-year anniversary of the surprise Hamas attacks in which thousands of members of the militant group attacked Israel from air, land and sea, the drill aimed to "implement the lessons of October 7," the military added.
In one day, Hamas killed around 1,200 people mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostages to Gaza, sparking the worst round of Gaza war since Hamas took over the strip in 2007.
Israel's incursion into the enclave has killed 61,000 Palestinians according to Gaza health officials. Humanitarian organizations have warned famine looms for the population there, most of which has been displaced by Israeli military action.
"The Chief of Staff also conducted situation assessments in the Air Force and Navy together with the commanders," the statement added.
The exercises came two months after Israel launched a surprise military campaign against Iran on June 13, targeting military and nuclear sites and killing hundreds of military personnel, nuclear scientists and civilians.
Iran responded with missile strikes that killed 31 civilians and one off-duty soldier, according to official figures published by the Israeli government.
"The IDF will continue and initiate a series of audit activities across all commands, branches, and units in order to improve their competence and readiness," the military added.
During a press conference this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that in the wake of the Iran war, the country must remain “fully alert”.
“We are prepared for every scenario. The Iranians are preparing for different scenarios - and I won't go into detail,” he said.
According to Israeli daily Maariv, the military was woken up to what they were told was a mutli-faceted attack on the country.
Threats they were told they were facing included rocket fire at rigs, infiltration from the Jordanian border in three locations, attacks by armed groups on settlements in the occupied West Bank and missile fire from Iran’s military allies the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
As the Houthis continue to fire ballistic missiles and drones at Israel regular basis, almost all intercepted by Israel’s air defenses before reaching Israeli territory, Maariv also reported that Iran is working to incite the Houthis as well as militias in southern Syria, in addition to others in Jordan.
The Israeli military has recently carried out a series of bombings on the de facto authorities in Syria, accusing its ex-jihadist president of posing a threat to the country and Syria's Druze minority.
