¡¡¡¡JERUSALEM, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Hundreds of Israeli firemen and rescue personnel will be vaccinated against smallpox in coming daysto prepare for a possible Iraqi strike in retaliation for the US attack, a spokesman for Israeli firemen and rescue personnel said Tuesday.

¡¡¡¡Two major exercises will also be held in preparation for the event. The first will take place at the end of September at the Azrieli Towers in the coastal city of Tel Aviv, during which various missile strike scenarios as well as a terror attack using alight aircraft will be played out. A similar exercise will take place in November at the Glilot fuel depot near Tel Aviv.

¡¡¡¡Israeli security establishment has stepped up efforts to preparefor the possibility of a non-conventional attack by Iraq.

¡¡¡¡Last month, Israeli Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon said thatthe security cabinet decided to vaccinate some 15,000 emergency security, medical and rescue personnel against smallpox in preparation for a biological warfare threat from Iraq or terrorists.

¡¡¡¡The Israeli Health Ministry announced in August that it had produced enough smallpox vaccine for the entire population of 6.6 million people. The ministry said there was also enough vaccine to inoculate tourists and some 300,000 foreign workers.

¡¡¡¡Israel stopped vaccinating children against smallpox in 1978. A year later, the World Health Organization said the virus was eradicated from the world. Enditem

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