Chemical War Training a Priority, Israel Says
The Israeli army said Wednesday that preparing its soldiers for chemical warfare has become one of its priorities.
Reporting on a large-scale maneuver by Israel Defense Forces concluded Tuesday in the Golan Heights, an official news release said a significant amount of the exercise was devoted to “training for possible future gas and chemical warfare.”
An army spokesman said that troops were being trained to defend themselves against chemical attacks rather than to launch offensives.
One military affairs specialist said he believes the official statement was aimed at Syria, Israel’s most hostile foe. Israeli experts suspect Syria is producing poison gas. The Golan Heights were seized from Syria during the Six-Day War in 1967.
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