Tel Aviv, June 20 -- Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Friday said Israelis must prepare for a "prolonged campaign" against Iran, in order to "eliminate a threat of this magnitude," The Times of Israel reported.

In a video statement, Zamir said that Iran has been "building for years a clear plan to destroy the State of Israel" and that in recent months, "the plan reached the point of no return, where the capabilities reached operational capability," as per The Times of Israel.

"We launched the campaign when Iran possessed around 2,500 ground-to-ground missiles, with a high production rate, such that within approximately two years, they were expected to possess around 8,000 missiles," he said.

Zamir s...