Israeli defense on high alert amid Iran's 48-hour warning

A US official is quoted as saying that Israel is preparing for a direct attack from Iran — “possibly on Israeli soil” — in the next 24 to 48 hours, citing American intelligence reports.

The Wall Street Journal report quotes an unnamed US source as saying Israel is preparing for a possible strike on either southern or northern Israel.

However it also quotes a source close to the Iranian regime as saying that no final decision has been taken by Tehran.

Iran has threatened to attack Israel following an April 1 airstrike on an Iranian consulate building in the Syrian capital of Damascus, which killed several Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders, including two generals.

Israel has not taken responsibility for the strike, but IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari has pointed to Israeli intelligence proving the building was not an embassy, but rather “a military building of Quds forces disguised as a civilian building in Damascus.”

The Quds Force is the foreign operations arm of the IRGC, which is classified as a terror organization by the US.

The WSJ report also notes that US government employees in Israel and their families have been restricted from traveling to areas outside of central Israel, Jerusalem and Beersheba — avoiding the north and the south of the country — until further notice.

Unverified posts on social media in recent days have shown Iranian threats of simulated attacks on targets in Israel including the nuclear facility in Dimona and the small airport in Haifa, which only operates flights to Cyprus.

[Source: The Times of Israel]