The United States embassy in Israel released a travel advisory Monday to its nationals in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza, warning of the possibility of sudden rocket fire at the country.
The advisory came as Iran was expected to target US sites in the Middle East in retaliation for a drone strike on Friday that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
“Out of an abundance of caution, the Embassy strongly encourages US citizens to remain vigilant and take appropriate steps to increase their security awareness, as security incidents, including rocket fire, often take place without warning,” the embassy said.
“In the event of mortar or rocket fire, a red alert siren may be activated,” it added. “Treat all such alerts as real; follow the instructions from local authorities and seek shelter immediately.”
The embassy said it will continue to review the situation and provide further information as needed.
The airstrike on Soleimani, who was head of Iran’s elite Quds force and mastermind of its regional security strategy, has caused regional tensions to soar.
A senior commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened that Tel Aviv could also be targeted, while a former head of the IRGC threatened to turn Israeli cities “to dust” if the US attacks targets in Iran.
The leader of the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization on Sunday called on Shiite militias to attack US military assets throughout the Middle East — including suicide bombings — and predicted that the Americans will leave the region in “coffins,” taking Israel with them.
He also claimed that Israel had requested that the US kill Soleimani.
“Israel wanted to assassinate the Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in Syria, but it couldn’t or didn’t dare. It turned to the United States, which did it openly,” Nasrallah said. “Israel saw Soleimani as the most dangerous man since the state was established, since he encircled the country with missiles.”
However, in the first public comments by a senior Israeli military officialon Soleimani’s killing, IDF Southern Command head Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Monday distanced the Jewish state from the incident and said it was part of the ongoing struggle between Iran and the US for influence in Iraq.
“Soleimani hurt American interests and represented a significant danger to Americans in the region. We must look at the assassination as part of a fight between Iran and the United States over Iraq’s character. That is the story,” Halevi said.
“The assassination also has ramifications for us as Israelis, and we must follow it closely, but we aren’t the main story here — and it’s good that it happened far away,” he said at a conference in Jerusalem that was organized by the Yedioth Ahronoth daily and the Ynet news website.
Halevi said Israel was ready for a “very significant reaction” if the Islamic Republic’s retaliation for the hit included operations by its Palestinian allies such as Gaza-based Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Also Monday one of Israel’s leading national security think tanks warned there is a growing risk of large-scale war along Israel’s northern borders in the coming year, in part due to Iran’s increasing “determination and daring.”
INSS researchers determined that while Israel’s assorted enemies do not appear to be interested in a large-scale conflict at this time, there area “factors that could lead to the possibility that a conflict could anyway take place in 2020.”
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