Israel is believed to be prepared to strike Iranian nuclear facilities if Tehran launches an attack in retaliation for the assassination of a top general last week.

Israel has held air force drills in recent days and is eyeing vital Iranian infrastructure, the London-based media outlet Elaph News reported, citing an unnamed Western security official.

Israelis have been on tenterhooks since late last week when a high-precision Israeli airstrike killed a top general with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps and other senior officers at the Iranian consulate in Damascus.

Mohammad Reza Zahedi has been described as Iran’s most important general to have been assassinated since the 2020 US airstrike that killed Qasem Souleimani.

Iran has vowed to retaliate for the killing, sparking fears of a major escalation and even an all-out war between Israel and Iran.

An IDF spokesman last Friday pleaded with the Israeli public not to panic-buy supplies and power generators as Western intelligence sources said a major airstrike on Israel was imminent within 48 hours.

Meanwhile, the latest US intelligence assessment suggests that Iran is unlikely to attack Israel directly, fearing broad repercussions of a global conflict, according to intelligence sources quoted by CNN on Tuesday.

Previously, both Israel and the US believed a direct attack from Iran was inevitable.

Early on Tuesday, Israeli forces launched a series of strikes on Syrian army posts in Syria’s south, the IDF said. That came in response to Syrian rocket fire on Israel-occupied Golan Heights in the north.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Separately, Israel’s foreign minister in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Tuesday pledged to strike Iran if Israel comes under attack.

“If Iran attacks us directly, we will attack Iran,” he said.

“And if it’s the militias allied with Iran that do it, as a reprisal for the destruction of the [Iranian] consulate in Damascus, we will attack them as well.”

Israel has indicated it is not interested in a major confrontation with Hezbollah despite the Iran-backed terrorist group hitting northern Israel with rockets almost daily since the start of the war in Gaza.

Asked about a possible response to a major Hezbollah attack, Mr Katz indicated that Israel would consider sending troops to Lebanon: “If missiles start hitting Tel Aviv from Lebanon as a reprisal for Damascus, Israel will send military aircraft and troops.”