Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis
Special report: Israel-Lebanon Conflicts   [ Video ][Gallery]

    JERUSALEM, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Faced with an alleged unclear threat from Iran, Israeli military establishment has been concentrating on dealing with a possible confrontation with non-conventional weapons of mass destruction (WMD), Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday.

    According to an exclusive report of the newspaper, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command has shifted its focus since the Lebanon war ended and is now investing most of its efforts in confronting the threat of WMD.

    A high-ranking IDF officer revealed to the Post that Israel's Home Front Command (HFC) is now developing new technological means to deal with chemical and biological threats, including mobile air-purification containers that can be brought to areas infected by chemical or biological weapons and purify the air.

    HFC's focus was shifted partially because the defense establishment believed that following the war in Lebanon, Israel was facing a major threat from ballistic missiles.

    During the war, there were some 4,000 missiles fired at northern Israel. It was estimated that missiles from Iran have a range of between 1,550 to 1,620 km and can carry a 500 to 650 kg warhead.

    "As it was demonstrated during the war in Lebanon, the other side is investing all of its resources in missiles," a high-ranking IDF officer was quoted as saying on Monday.

    "We therefore need to provide answers to deal with this threat offensively but also defensively, once the missiles are already launched," he added.

    According to the IDF's assessment, facing a nuclear Iran, Israel will find itself in a "lose-lose situation."

    "If Iran is attacked, long-range missiles will land in Israel," a senior defense official said. "If, on the other hand, nothing is done militarily, Israel will find itself under a constant nuclear threat from Iran." Enditem

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    Israel: Iran "few months" from being nuke power

    WASHINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that Iran is just "a few months" from being able to enrich uranium, a key step to producing a nuclear bomb.

    "The crucial moment is not the day of the bomb. The crucial moment is the day in which Iran will master the enrichment, the knowledge of enrichment," Livni said on CNN's "Late Edition." >>>