Israel on high alert amid fears of an attack by Tehran

ISRAEL opened bomb shelters yesterday after identifying “irregular activity” by Iranian forces in Syria.

The military instructed civic authorities on the Golan Heights in the east of the country to prepare bomb shelters, deploy new defences and mobilise some reservist forces amid fears of conflict between Israeli and Iranian forces.

President Trump, announcing he was pulling the US out of the Iran nuclear deal, accused Iran of interfering in other countries such as Syria and of supporting militias like Hezbollah.

Israel’s top general Gadi Eizenkot cancelled a scheduled appearance at an annual security conference and was conferring with Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other national security chiefs, officials said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted how tensions had been growing between the rival nations.

He said: “For months now, Iran has been transferring lethal weaponry to its forces in Syria, with the purpose of striking at Israel.

“We will respond mightily to any attack on our territory.” Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have been helping Syrian President Bashar al-Assad beat back a seven-year-old rebellion. Israel has carried out repeated air strikes against them, hoping to stop the formation of a Lebanese-Syrian front to its north.

An April 9 strike killed seven Iranian military personnel at a Syrian airbase. Iran blamed Israel and said it would retaliate.

Israeli media said the order to prepare bomb shelters was unprecedented during Syria’s civil war. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.

Israel has apparently posted Iron Dome short-range air defences in the region, suggesting an attack could be by ground-to-ground rockets or mortars.