Amid multiple and consistent threats of attack from Iran and its Syrian and Hezbollah clients, the Israeli Defense Force overnight deployed an Iron Dome battery near Tel Aviv, the latest in a series of moves by the military to boost security:

“We have a clear responsibility to prepare the army for all possibilities. We took a number of decisions to prepare ourselves for a scenario we hope will not materialize,” a military source said Wednesday.

As part of the preparations, the IAF deployed Iron Dome anti-rocket batteries in Haifa, Ashkelon and Eilat, and is set to place additional batteries in the northern regions of Amakim and Safed.

The chief editor of an Iranian newspaper linked to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei penned an op-ed this week, declaring that in the event of a Western attack on Syria, “thousands of missiles will rain down” on Israel. Hezbollah, which militarily controls Lebanon’s southern region, has begun to mobilize troops near the Israeli-Lebanese border.

Iron Dome anti-missile batteries have recently been deployed to Israel’s north, and there are reportedly plans to augment them with further anti-missile assets. Israel has also upped its distribution of gas masks, and dispatched IDF instructors to educate Israel’s civilian population on security measures in case of an attack.

[Photo: natanflayer / Flickr]