Israel concludes largest civil defence drill

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2008

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel wound up its largest ever civil defence exercise on Thursday with a simulation of a chemical weapons attack on a hospital and claimed the five days of drills worked well.

In the final drill a hospital in the northern city of Afula was evacuated during a simulated chemical weapons strike, a military spokesman said.

The home front manoeuvre was aimed at preparing Israel for possible attacks involving conventional weapons as well as missiles equipped with chemical or bacteriological warheads.

The exercise, which began on Sunday "worked very well, everything worked according to what we planned. We thought we would have many more problems," said defence ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror.

The drills also aimed to prepare the country...