Israel prepared for attack by Saddam as US strike looms
Iraq fired 39 Scud missiles armed with conventional warheads at Israel during the 1991 US-led Gulf War, but Israeli officials fear this time Baghdad could fire non-conventional weapons if it feels the United States is about to oust Saddam.
Mr Yaalon said Israel's armed forces were "very well prepared" to withstand an Iraqi attack and the Israeli homefront defences were the most advanced in the world.
"We are prepared so that nothing will reach the area at all," Mr Yaalon told Army Radio. "We are well prepared both in terms of defence and also in terms of an offensive response if there will be a need," he added in an interview ahead of the Yom Kippur fast day which began yesterday evening and lasts 25 hours.
Israeli radio stations quoted security officials as saying they had warnings Palestinian militants were planning attacks over Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
Armed guards will be deployed at synagogues to protect hundreds of thousands of Jews expected to attend prayers on the fast day. The army sealed off the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the duration of Yom Kippur, which brings the country to a halt.
Curfews were imposed in five Palestinian cities reoccupied by Israeli forces in June after a wave of suicide bombings.
Ben Gurion International airport will be closed over the holiday and local radio and television stations will stop their broadcasts.
Israel has been trying to keep a low profile in the war of words between Washington and Baghdad. Although Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told a Washington think tank that postponement of a strike against Iraq "is taking maybe the same risk that was taken by Europe in 1939 in the face of the emergence of Hitler."
Mr Yaalon declined to say how far in advance the United States would warn Israel of an impending attack on Iraq, expected to take place within the next four or five months if a dispute over the arms inspectors is not resolved.
