Israeli Defence Drill.

Air raid sirens in Israel on March 20 blared and thousands of security and emergency personnel simulated an array of unconventional and rocket attacks to demonstrate lessons learned from last summer's much-criticised war with Hizbullah. In the course of the two-day drill, police, soldiers and rescue crews were to respond to simulated assaults on seven different locations.

In an unexpected twist, however, the exercise was briefly suspended after security forces alerted that a real attack might be under way on a major highway near Tel Aviv. Police stopped one car on the road and arrested three passengers. Bomb disposal experts searched the vehicle for explosive devices, but turned up nothing in their initial inspection.

Critics have said the army and home front command did not do enough to protect northern Israel from the nearly 4,000 rockets which Hizbullah guerrillas rained on the area during the July/August 2006 war.