IDF on alert for coordinated ISIS assault on Eilat or vicinity

The commander of the IDF’s 80th Division, Col. Arik Hen, announced Thursday that the army is deployed ready to fend off a large-scale coordinated attack on Israel's southernmost town of Eilat, which the Islamic State is believed to be planning with speedboats and aquatic motor bikes combined with an overland incursion and rocket bombardment from Egyptian Sinai. Israeli troops are also ranged on Route 12 north of Eilat and the civilian locales along the highway in case they too come under jihadi attack.

Col. Hen reported that hundreds of ISIS terrorists have gathered in Sinai, but there is not enough intelligence to keep track of all their plans and movements. DEBKAfile adds: The IDF has released this nformation as a warning because the Islamist terrorists may intend to strike during the eight-day Feast of Passover, when Eilat and southern Israel teem annually with holidaymakers and trippers.