IDF soldiers. Photo: Twitter.

The IDF has been preparing for the possibility of an ISIS infiltration from the Egyptian-controlled Sinai Peninsula and/or abduction of Israeli soldiers, Al-Jazeera reported on Monday.

According to the report, officers in the IDF unit responsible for retrieving kidnapped and missing soldiers carried out an intensive training exercise simulating the disappearance of three Israeli soldiers near the country’s border with Egypt, a scenario which IDF brass are taking particularly seriously in the wake of Friday night’s attacks in Paris.

The scenario involved the investigation into the cause of the disappearance of soldiers in the desert along the Egyptian border after their tank was blown up, according to the unit’s deputy commander, Lazar Borenshtein.

He said that the soldiers were expected to confront ISIS kidnappers with heavy gunfire and mortars, while maintaining calm, and noted that the IDF was in a “race against time to prevent the occurrence of such a difficult scenario.”

Borenshtein added that the soldiers participating in the drill had fought in Gaza during last summer’s Operation Protective Edge and had taken part in the search for the two soldiers, Shaul Oron and Hadar Goldin, who were abducted by Hamas during the conflict.