Jerusalem: Fearing Hizbullah attack following declarations of an "open war", Israel has deployed a battery of missiles near the northern coastal city of Haifa and beefed up security of VIPs to prevent possible assassination attempts, media reports here said.

As a precautionary measure, Israel has deployed the US Patriot air defence system, which proved ineffective in 2006 Lebanon War and in also intercepting Saddam's Scud missiles in the 1991 Gulf War, to avert possible attacks in Israeli territory with unmanned aerial vehicles laden with bombs, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet, has decided to beef up security of ministers and senior officials during their private vacations abroad following the assassination of Hizbullah commander Imad Mugniyeh last week for which the Shi ite Lebanese faction blamed the Jewish state, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak had said on Sunday last that Hizbullah would try to retaliate for Mugniyeh s assassination, possibly with help from Syria and Iran.

There are media reports of huge deployment of Hizbullah fighters near Israel-Lebanon border in the aftermath of the killing of Mugniyeh, one of the group's most prominent commanders who has been accused of plotting several attacks against Israel and the West in which hundreds of people lost their lives.

Hizbullah and its Iranian backers had swiftly blamed Israel for assassination of their leader in Damascus.
Source : PTI