OCCUPIED JERUSALEM, 23 March 2003 — Israeli officials are to meet at the beginning of next week to discuss lowering the level of alert in Israel, in place since the start of the US-led assault on Iraq and sparked by fears Saddam Hussein could order a missile attack on the Jewish state.
Defense officials quoted by Israel Radio said it was possible Israelis would be told to resume their normal routines.
However, Israel Army Radio reported that a situation assessment, undertaken by the defense establishment, decided not to change earlier instructions to Israeli citizens regarding preparations for a possible Iraqi missile strike. An unnamed senior military official warned Israelis against complacency in view of the latest developments in Iraq. “We should not create expectations among the Israeli public that within a day or two the special level of alert will be eased,” he told Army Radio.
At the beginning of the war, Israeli authorities instructed residents to open and carry their gas mask kits with them at all times. Earlier, Israelis had been told to prepare sealed rooms as a defense against possible Iraqi chemical or biological attacks.
But the capture Friday of airfields in western Iraq, the only part of the country from which Iraqi missiles can reach Israel, has led Israeli authorities to consider lowering the alert. But Deputy Defense Minister Ze’ev Boim said while it was possible the alert could be lowered soon, the war had just begun and the US seizure of western Iraq was not complete.
