Full Text of Raad´s Paper on "Israeli" Entity´s Maneuver - Turning Point 3

29-4-2009
On April 28, the Lebanese National News Agency carried the following report:

Upon the end of the sixth dialogue session which was held in the Baabda Palace, the head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc, Deputy Mohammad Raad, distributed to the [different] poles of the dialogue and the journalists a paper headlined "The ["Israeli"] entity's maneuver - Turning Point 3".

The paper read: "Between May 31 and June 4, the enemy's entity has decided to carry out the greatest maneuver in its history under the headline ‘Turning Point 3'. The aforementioned maneuver, the preparations for which started last year, is the third part of a series that started in 2007 with "Turning Point 1" and continued in 2008 with "Turning Point 2".

The announced goal of this maneuver that was described as being massive, is to raise the level of "Israeli" national preparedness and enhance its readiness for a possible military confrontation in which the domestic front will be part of the battle arena."

As he was explaining the importance of this maneuver, the "Israeli" Deputy War Minister and head of the National Emergency Committee, General Matan Vilnai said: "The goal behind this maneuver is to place the people in the context of the culture of alertness as though war was breaking out tomorrow morning"...

The sides partaking in the maneuver:

The expression "The entire state will be training for five days" which was stated by Vilnai, revealed the real size of the maneuver which will include the entire "Israeli" entity. It will aim at training all the people of ""Israel"" on what to do in case the domestic front is the object of intensive and sudden missile attacks. The sides partaking in the maneuver were defined as follows:

- The state of emergency authority which is under the command of the "Israeli" deputy War Minister. It will have to manage the maneuver with all its elements.

- The "Israeli" government and the mini ministerial council which will hold repetitive meetings to adopt stringent and critical decisions in the context of the maneuver.

- The "Israeli" army with all its sections, weapons and bases, at the head of which is the Air Force. It is worth mentioning that this force executed during "Turning Point 2" last year, wide air maneuvers with the participation of hundreds of combat planes.

-The ministries, public administrations, local councils (252 of them) and educational institutions.

- The internal front units which drew a new warning plan dividing the enemy's entity into 27 zones while there were 10 zones in the past.

- The police corps, civil defense forces, the Magen David Adom [Red Star of David] and the firefighting units.

As for the scenarios of the maneuver, they feature the following:

- Facing a large scale missile attack from Iran, Syria, Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, in parallel to an escalation in the West Bank.

- Facing non-conventional missile attacks.
- Facing the detonation of dangerous substances in the port of Haifa.
- Facing a major and non-conventional "terrorist" event in the city of Eilat.
- Facing a series of mobile incidents and the fall of rockets in many cities and settlements throughout the entity.

The goals of the maneuver:

- Securing full military preparedness...
- Testing the new alarm systems and the anti-missile systems that the enemy is developing.
- Testing the performance of the leaders in the government and the army in the event of a full-scale war on several fronts.
- Testing the level of cooperation and coordination between the different apparatuses in the event of a full-scale war...
- Training the citizens on how to face a missile threat and reach the shelters and barricaded rooms in a record time ranging between 15 seconds and three minutes...
- Testing the ability of the hospitals to receive and treat large numbers of injured...

Raad then wondered: "What can we do on our end? In light of the actions of the "Israeli" enemy in terms of its preparations for war and in light of the size and nature of this action and the signs it carries, Lebanon cannot remain idle in the face of what is being concocted against it.

While this enemy is not concealing the fact that Lebanon is among its targets at the level of the military plans it is drawing and maneuvering to achieve in it, it is our national duty to draw mechanisms to face this imminent "Israeli" threat to deter the enemy on one hand and achieve full preparedness on the other. It is therefore natural for the Lebanese preparations to be up to the level of the challenge and to include all necessary facets, especially since showing that Lebanon is prepared is one of the answers Lebanon should provide to respond to the "Israeli" action. These preparations should be made on three levels: a civilian level, military level and political level.

"On the civilian level, awareness should be raised within the civil institutions to motivate them to bridge the gaps and enhance their ability to face any sudden attack that might be waged by the enemy considering that their role during any attack is major and vital. This includes the health and rescue sectors in particular, such as hospitals, blood banks and civil defense and the institutions responsible for providing water, electricity and communication services.

The other Lebanese official apparatuses should for their part draw practical plans to deal with this threat... On the military level, we must reach a mechanism to coordinate the combative and defensive preparedness of the resistance and the army to secure complimentarily in deterring the enemy and making it pay a hefty price in case it were to engage in any venture.

Politically, a political, media and diplomatic campaign must be launched in international forums, presenting "Israel" as being a promoter of war and the reason behind the tensions in the region and holding it responsible for instability and the deterioration of the situation."