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Home Front Command

The Home Front Command (HFC; Hebrew: פיקוד העורף, Pikud HaOref, also referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym Pakar) is an Israel Defense Forces military district command responsible for civil protection.

It was created in February 1992 in response to the lessons of the Gulf War, which was the first war since the 1948 Arab–Israeli War in which centers of civilian population faced significant threat. The command is responsible for preparing the civilian population of Israel for conflict or disaster, assisting the population during crisis and contributing to post-crisis reconstruction.

Mission

The mission of the Home Front Command is to protect civilian lives. It prepares the civilian space before a conflict, supports it during a conflict, carries out search and rescue operations and assists in the rapid restoration of the civilian space after a conflict has ended. The Home Front Command publishes regular instructions for civil defense, especially in times of emergency, and operates a telephone emergency center numbered 104.

This district command should not be confused with Unit 669. The Home Front Command's search and rescue unit operates within Israel and is intended to rescue civilians, primarily operating in times of natural disasters, while Unit 669 is the Israeli Air Force's Tactical Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) unit that rescues combatants behind enemy lines.

Fields of responsibility

As per the Home Front Command's website, its fields responsibilities are:

To draft and publish the rulebook of civil defense.
To prepare and execute plans for civil defense for the entire country and all its territory.
To train, guide, and operate Magen David Adom in Israel (MDA), the firefighting and rescue services, and the other assistant organizations regarding the fulfillment of their duties in the field of civil defense.
To guide the population on the home front as well as all officials in the home front theater during attacks or unique situations on the home front as well as issue appropriate instructions.
To guide local authorities as regards the fulfillment of their duties as regards issues of civil defense.
To coordinate the activities of government ministries, private factories, national infrastructure, and emergency organizations on issues related to civil defense.
To draft policies for civil defense for all areas and in coordination with area commands.
To serve as the competent authority, as defined by law, for the issue of shelter and to serve as an authority, as defined by the Civil Defense Regulations for the matter of dangerous materials.
To determine the way citizens are alerted, including specifying sirens and all-clear signals, their distribution, and their operation through various methods.
To construct a system to detect, identify, and decontaminate areas affected by chemical or biological warfare on the home front and to operate that system during incidents of civil defense.
To store and distribute personal defensive kits to the population in accordance with the regulations in the Civil Defense Regulations (defense kits) 5741-1990 and in accordance with government decisions.
To operate the necessary powers to execute rescue and lifesaving activities as determined by law.

History

Until the establishment of the Command, responsibility for the Home Front fell under the Civilian Defense's Chief Officer Corps Command and under Regional Defense. During that time, the three regional commands had their own home front commands. After the first Persian Gulf War, these organizations were unified and the Home Front Command was created. It is currently headed by Aluf Rafi Milo.

The role of the Homefront command as a civil defense service are embodied in the Israeli civil defense laws of 1951 as well as other government regulations and decisions. Civil defense is defined in law as follows: "The measures taken to defend against any attack, or the danger the attack poses to the civil population, or to minimize the outcome of such an attack to remove weaponry which is not for self-defense."

Organization and units

The Command is divided into five districts (which are further divided into subdistricts):

Northern District
Haifa District
Dan District
Jerusalem and Central District
Southern District

Together the districts field 26 rescue battalions, 13 CBRN defense battalions, 26 military hospitals, and 6 logistic units, all of which are manned by reservists. The Home Front Command also includes the search-and-rescue training base Bahad 16, and fields an active Rescue & Training Brigade, as well as two reserve infantry brigades:

Rescue & Training Brigade
- 489th Search & Rescue Battalion "Kedem/East"
- 498th Search & Rescue Battalion "Shahar/Dawn"
- 668th Search & Rescue Battalion "Ram"
- 894th Search & Rescue Battalion "Tavor"
5692th Infantry Brigade "Ari", in the Northern District
- 982nd Infantry Battalion
- 9214th Infantry Battalion
- 9239th Infantry Battalion
- 9311th Infantry Battalion
6050th Infantry Brigade "Daniel", in the Southern District
- 419th Infantry Battalion
- 5032nd Infantry Battalion
- 5704th Infantry Battalion
- 7109th Infantry Battalion

Notable operations

Albanian earthquake relief assistance

On 26 November 2019, an earthquake struck the Durrës region of Albania, killing 51 people, injuring 3,000 others, and damaging 11,000 buildings. Israel sent Home Front Command military engineer troops and a rescue and service team from the regional council of Mevo'ot HaHermon to Albania to search through the rubble for survivors and rescue them, assess whether buildings were structurally sound, and provide Albanians who had been evacuated from their homes with waterproof tents to shelter them.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote: "We stand with our Albanian friends during this difficult time, and will continue to assist them in any way we can." In January 2020, Albanian President Ilir Meta met with IDF soldiers during an official visit in Israel, embraced them, and thanked them for their assistance in earthquake relief efforts and "further consolidating the friendly and historical relations between our two nations and our countries." At Ramla military base, Meta awarded the Albanian Golden Medal of the Eagle to the National Rescue Unit of the IDF.

Response to Surfside, Florida, condominium collapse

On 24 June 2021, Israeli Consul-General Maor Elbaz-Starinsky conveyed an official offer from the Israeli government to send the Home Front Command search and rescue team to Florida to assist in rescue efforts associated with the Surfside condominium collapse. Florida responded the next day, and Home Front Command joined the search for survivors. The members of the Home Front Command's National Rescue Unit who assisted with the rescue efforts ultimately recovered 81 of the 97 victims.

2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake humanitarian aid

After the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, on the 6 February 2023, the IDF declared the "Olive Branches" humanitarian aid delegation, a delegation of 150 active duty and reservist personnel of the Home Front command, as well as members of the Israel Fire and Rescue Services, IDF Medical Corps and more, led by Colonel (Aluf-Mishne) Golan Vach. As of 11 February 2023, the IDF delegation has rescued 19 living civilians, including a nine-year-old child.