Army chief of staff General Shaul Mofaz minimized Friday the potential threat recent Iraqi troop movements toward the Jordanian border posed to Israel.
"These movements constitute neither a danger, nor a menace to Israeli security and in any case, the Iraqis know we will respond if we have to," he told army radio.
"We have had a tendency to exaggerate the importance of these troop movements and I think they'll return to their starting position very soon," he added.
The Hebrew daily Yediot Aharonot recently reported Israel viewed with concern Iraqi military movements near the Syrian and Jordanian borders.
The newspaper said Israel and the United States had stepped up contacts to counter any Iraqi threat on Israeli territory, though Washington has also played down the redeployments.
Israel and Washington, using several European countries as intermediaries, have warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- who has called for jihad (holy war) against the Jewish state -- not to interfere in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The troop movements have also provoked some anxiety among ordinary Israelis.
Military authorities announced on October 17 a gradual reopening of the country's gas-mask distribution centers.
During the 1991 Gulf War, Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles at Israeli territory, killing at least one person and wounding hundreds of others, as well as causing serious damage.
Iraq is fiercely opposed to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
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