With Iran threatening revenge for the assassination of one of its top commanders on Monday, the Israeli military took the unusual step on Thursday of canceling leave for all combat units.
“The IDF is at war and the deployment of forces is under continuous assessment according to requirements,” the army said in a statement.
The notice comes after the army on Wednesday decided to increase manpower and call up reserve soldiers to the IDF Aerial Defense Array.
GPS disruptions
On Thursday, there were GPS disruptions in central Israel, including Waze and Google Maps giving wrong locations and the Gett taxi and Wolt delivery apps not working.
“The disruptions are an effective tool to confuse a weapon that [uses] GPS [to navigate],” the former head of the national cyber system, Yigal Ona, told Ynet.
“Like any strong medicine, it has side effects, and in the meantime I suggest going back to the maps once in a while. It can be managed. It’s not an attack—it’s a defense,” said Ona.
Looming threat
According to Israeli assessments, Iran could attempt to attack Israel through one of its terror proxies, whether it be Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or militia forces in Syria.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday threatened Israel in a Hebrew-language tweet, writing, “With God’s help we will make the Zionists repent of their crime of aggression against the Iranian consulate in Damascus.”
A follow-up tweet on Thursday suggested that an Iranian attack could come on the final Friday of Ramadan (April 5), which Iran marks as “Quds Day.”
“We need to be prepared and ready for every scenario and every threat, against enemies both near and far. We know how to protect the citizens of Israel and we know how to attack our enemies, and we are committed to preparation both in the IDF, both in the security system and in the civilian space,” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said.
Striking the head of the snake
Iran holds Israel responsible for the death of Brig. Gen. Mohammad Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force responsible for Syria and Lebanon, who was killed in an airstrike in Damascus on Monday.
Along with Zahedi, six other members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the attack, which targeted a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy.
Israel said it attacked terror targets in Southern Lebanon on Wednesday night. “IAF fighter jets struck Hezbollah launch posts in the area of Khiam and terrorist infrastructure in the area of Kfar Kila,” it said.
On Feb. 4, military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari revealed that the IAF has attacked more than 50 targets belonging to Hezbollah and other Iran-backed terrorist groups in Syria since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel.
With reporting by JNS.
