Tel Aviv - With fears of Iran's nuclear programme very much in mind, Israel embarked on its largest-ever home-front emergency drill Sunday, meant to simulate responses to war and other emergency situations, such as a large-scale terrorist attack.

The operative part of the five-day drill, dubbed "Turning Point 2," will begin Monday and will include, among other scenarios, simulated missile attacks on towns in populated areas.

Rescue services will simulate mass evacuation from hit zones - including those hit with chemical and biological weapons - and hospitals will practise treating thousands of casualties.

Israel regards Iran as is biggest existential threat, given Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statements that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map.

During the exercise, the security, or inner, cabinet will also conduct meetings throughout the exercise, aimed at examining the effectiveness of the decision-making process during enemy attacks.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's cabinet has come in for intense criticism for its performance during the July-August 2006 war with Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

In addition its decision-making process during that conflict, the government has also been slammed for its unpreparedness, and that of the military's Home Front Command, to the thousands of missiles Hezbollah launched at Israeli population centres.

Olmert told his ministers at Sunday's cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that the exercise was "only a drill, with nothing hiding behind it."

Alluding to recent tensions with Syria, the premier said that "this drill is not part of anything else. It seems to me the Syrians know this as well; they have no reason to analyse the drill differently ... The State of Israel is not intent on any violent confrontation with Syria."

On Saturday night Defence Minister Ehud Barak had described Israel;s northern front, which borders southern Lebanon and Syria, as "especially sensitive."

Israel Radio quoted him as saying that "in our day and age, the preparedness of the home front is a critical component of military victory." (dpa)