IDF Spokesman: Nationwide Drill is Defensive

6:15 PM - Breaking News Update.

I was asked to join a conference call, organized by the IDF Spokesman's office, amidst international concern regarding the IDF nationwide exercise "Turning Point 4".

YNET even reported minutes ago:

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday called on the Western world to act against Israel, on the backdrop of a wide-scale home front drill launched by the Jewish state. "It's unthinkable that the West keeps silence in light of the Israeli aggression," he said.

Assad made the remarks during a meeting with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in Damascus. According to official news agency SANA, the Syrian president noted that if the West is interested in security and stability in the Middle East, it must "start filling an active role in order to restrain Israel and its radical and dangerous tendencies towards security and peace in the region."

The Director of Population Control in the IDF Homefront Command: Colonel Dr. Yechiel "Hilik" Soffer spoke at the IDF's New Media/Blogger press conference:

"Today we have started a national civil defense drill, "Turning Point 4" which is a lesson/conclusion from the Second Lebanon war to help prepare the population for a missile attack and any emergency situation.

This is the 4rth year we are conducting a nation-wide drill.

Israel's entire civilian population will be asked to practice, this coming Wednesday at 11 AM, going to their bomb shelters upon hearing air-raid sirens, to practice the amount of time needed to get to shelter.

For example; In Haifa, residents have 1 minute from the time they hear the siren till they reach a shelter. Tel Aviv, 2 minutes, and Jerusalem 3 minutes.

On Monday and Tuesday; government ministries will be participating with local municipalities.

Scenarios to be drilled include: missile attacks, a train crash, HAZMAT events, mass casualty attacks, etc.

On Thursday, we will continue field exercises with all of Israel's emergency organizations; Emergency Medical Services, IDF Homefront troops, the Fire Brigade, police troops and more.

Q from Sascha blogger: This drill seems to only simulate attacks from the North? Aren't their threats from the South as well?
A: The missile attacks simulate attacks from anywhere -- it doesn't matter where the rockets are launched from: Gaza or the North.

Q from Jewlicious: How do you know where your closest bomb shelter is?
A: Its mandatory for all homes built after 1992 to have a private shelter (also known as a mamad). One of the conclusions after the first gulf war was to have personal shelters in all homes.

35% of the buildings in Israel have personal protective shelters. About 30% are close to a public shelter in or near their building.

25%-30% do not have a shelter -- and we are educating those residents how to find the best solution. If they live in a top floor in a building, they need to go to the stairwell, one floor down and that will help protect them.

Jameel's Question: Why are Lebanon, Syria and Hizbollah so scared of our civil defense drill?
Answer: I dont have a good answer for you, since everything is civil defense. We won't be using any tanks, or anything offensive. The only vehicles will be ambulances and fire trucks. Most countries prepare their populations for disasters like and earthquakes, natural disasters. Not only we we have to worry about natural disasters which we train for, but also threats from Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza.

Why are Hizbolla and Syria "scared" of the drill? You should probably be asking them...

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IDF Spokesman -- Blogger Press Conference

This evening at 9:30 PM, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovitch conducted a press conference for bloggers about today's IDF capture of an Iranian cargo ship, loaded with weapons on its way to Syria and Hezbollah.

IDF Spokesperson Lt. Co. Avital Leibovitch:

Late last night, IDF navy forces boarded an Iranian cargo ship. We asked the captain if we could check the containers of his ship and he agreed without a problem.

We checked the shipping containers and found they were filled with munitions, so we then directed the cargo vessel to accompany us to the port in Ashdod, Israel. The cargo vessel was intercepted by IDF naval forces about 100 nautical miles west of Israel

We have opened only 1/3 of the 40 containers so far (as of the press/blogger briefing at 9:30 PM)

We have found so far:

106mm rockets
107mm rockets
122 mm Katusha rockets
mortars
hand grenades

These munitions were packed in shipping containers, behind large bags of plastic polyethylene. In addition to the plastic material physically hiding the munitions, polyethylene prevents scanners from identifying munitions hidden behind them.

These munitions discovered so far were manufactured by China, Russia, and Spain, which goes against UN resolution 1747 - forbidding exports or commerce of weapons with Iran.

We saw on shipping documents that the vessel's port of origin is an Iranian port, and it's destination was Syria, for the weapons to get to Hezbollah.

Questions:

Jameel: Some of Israel's detractors claim that this was an act of piracy. What legal basis does the IDF in detaining this ship?

IDF Spox: This action was completely in accordance with international law. There is no legal problem to board and check the contents of a vessel in a country's surrounding area. No force was used whatsoever and the captain of the ship agreed to accompany IDF naval forces to the Ashdod port.

Question: Was this a routine mission or based on intelligence?

IDF Spox: This was a routine mission. The navy conducts checks like all the time.

IDF Spox: The amount of munitions seized is -- 10 times more than Karin A cargo boat which was illegally bringing munitions to the Palestinian Authority in Gaza in October 02. The Karin A has 50 tons of munitions aboard, while this boat last night had over 500 tons of munitions on board.

Question: Was this a 1 time success, or do ships like this transport weapons to Hezbollah all the time? Is this one boat captured out of five?

IDF Spox: We don't know how many other attempts or boats may have gotten through, but this is definitely part of a pattern to re-arm Hezbollah.

Question from David Abitbol/Jewlicious: What is the range of the rockets?

IDF Spox: More than 40 kilometers.

Question from David Abitbol/Jewlicious: While watching the video, some of the munitions looked brand new, while others looked a bit used. Why would Iran send anything less than brand new to Hezbollah?

IDF Spox: I was there today and saw all the munitions personally. They were all brand new. All of it, what has been opened so far.

Question from Prof. Richard Landes: What are the next moves for Israel in light of this success?

IDF Spox: That's more of a political question, one best addressed to Israel's government.

Thank you all for joining.

Good night.

IDF Spox Photos of boat and munitions...

Also see: IDF Spokesman Blog Updates

Relevant UN Resolutions:

UN Security Council Resolution 1737 (December 23^rd, 2006): A UN resolution determining, inter alia, a limit on export of certain Iranian products and items

-"Decides that Iran shall not export any of the items in documents S/2006/814 and S/2006/815 and that all Member States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran."

UN Security Council Resolution 1474 (March 24^th, 2007): Explicitly forbids all export of arms from Iran (not only to terrorist organizations), without relating to methods of enforcement.

"Decides that Iran shall not supply, sell or transfer directly or indirectly from its territory or by its nationals or using its flag vessels or aircraft any arms or related material, and that all States shall prohibit the procurement of such items from Iran by their nationals, or using their flag vessels or aircraft, and whether or not originating in the territory of Iran."

UN Security Council Resolution 1803 (March 24^th, 2008): Calls for supervision over the movement of aircraft and naval vessels owned by the companies Iran Air and IRISL (Annexes 11 and 12)

"Calls upon all States, in accordance with their national legal authorities and legislation and consistent with international law, in particular the law of the sea and relevant international civil aviation agreements, to inspect the cargoes to and from Iran of aircraft and vessels, at their airports and seaports, owned or operated by Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, provided there are reasonable grounds to believe that the aircraft or vessel is transporting goods prohibited under this resolution or resolution 1737 (2006) or resolutions 1747 (2007);"

UN Security Council Resolution 1835 September 27^th, 2008: Reconfirms earlier resolutions dealing with the issue of Iranian exports and arms trading, and calls on Iran to immediately fulfill its obligations as they appear in prior resolutions.

“Reaffirms the statement of its President, S/PRST/2006/15, of 29 March, and its resolution 1696 (2006) of 31 July 2006, its resolution 1737 (2006) of 23 December 2006, its resolution 1747 (2007) of 24 March 2007, and its resolution 1803 (2008) of 3 March 2008…

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