WarSclerotic

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi examined the readiness of troops ahead of expected violent riots on the Gaza border fence, the military said Friday evening.

“The Chief of Staff examined the preparedness in the Gaza Division area along the border fence and the main centers of disturbances in the area,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that during his visit Kochavi was presented with assessments of the troops and their response to various scenarios which could occur during the Land Day on Saturday.

Basik, the IDF said, presented Kochavi with the readiness of the troops who had been deployed as part of reinforcements earlier in the week and with various operational plans for various scenarios of escalation.

Kochavi spoke with the commanders of the brigades and other commanders ahead of the events while observing the possible developments during and after them and the IDF’s plans to confront these events.

“IDF troops continue to prepare for an escalation with a wide range of operational plans and are prepared for all events,” the IDF said.

The IDF said Thursday that troops had completed their operational preparations for the “Land Day” events and that a Division Headquarters, three infantry Brigades and an artillery unit were deployed to enhance the Southern Command.

In addition, the military said that the leave of all combat units that are currently assigned to the Southern Command has been cancelled.

“The forces are conducting briefings, readiness checks and training for a variety of possible scenarios,” read the IDF statement.

Israel’s security establishment is bracing for thousands of Palestinians to riot across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, marking Land Day and the one year anniversary of The Great Return March demonstrations along the Gaza front.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on “our Palestinian people in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and abroad to participate in Land Day (March 30) and take part in the million-man march.”

Land Day commemorates the Israeli government’s expropriation of Arab-owned land in the Galilee on March 30 1976. Six unarmed Arab citizens were killed and hundreds wounded and arrested in the ensuing riots and confrontations with the IDF and police.

Last year on Land Day, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began The Great Return Marches with  thousands of Gazans violently demonstrating along the security fence with Israel demanding an end to the 12-year long blockade of the coastal enclave.

Head of IDF District Coordination and Liaison (DCL) to Gaza Iyad Sarhan commented on the expected escalations, saying that “the IDF will not stand for attempts at harming citizens, soldiers and the security fence. Any such violation will result in a severe response.”

Sarhan was addressing the citizens of Gaza directly through Elmonsk, the Arabic-language Facebook page of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories.

Sarhan made a point to mention that Hamas wasted their money on violent disturbances and pointless marches on the fence every Friday. He explained that the marches “did not advance or contribute” to the citizens of Gaza, “but only caused deaths and injuries as a result of the violent nature and terrorist acts of the demonstrations, which are completely absent from the definition of ‘nonviolence.'”

“Your blood is more precious than all these marches,” he wrote to the Gaza residents.

“The State of Israel is determined to continue to defend its citizens and will not tolerate rocket fire and terrorist acts,” Sarhan continued. “Any such violation would provoke a harsh response. Protect your souls, keep away and keep innocent people away from the points of friction and terror in the Gaza Strip.”

Suspended Fox News commentator Jeanine Pirro will reportedly return Saturday, following her controversial comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Justice with Judge Jeanine, the top rated show on the American cable news network, has been off the air for the past two weeks after Pirro made an issue of Omar’s comments regarding the pro-Israel community.

TOKYO – Japanese refineries have put a halt on imports of Iranian oil after buying 15.3 million barrels between January and March ahead of the expiry of a temporary waiver on US sanctions, according to industry sources and data on Refinitiv Eikon.

“We think it would be difficult to keep on lifting Iranian oil after March,” a Fuji Oil spokesman said, noting that banks and insurance companies want to make sure all the transactions and deliveries are done well before the waivers expire.

The last Iranian oil cargo onboard supertanker Kisogawa is expected to arrive at Chiba, Japan, on April 9, the data showed.

The United States last year demanded that nations cut all Iranian oil imports when it reimposed sanctions on the country’s petroleum sector on Nov. 4 over Tehran’s nuclear program.

However, Washington granted temporary exemptions to Iran’s biggest oil clients – Japan, China, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy, Greece and Turkey.

Refiners in Japan, the world’s fourth-biggest oil consumer, had stopped loading Iranian oil by mid-September, and only resumed loading in late January after banks received government assurances about processing payments to Iran.

Japan has loaded 15.3 million barrels of Iranian crude in the first three months this year, which is equivalent to 86,430 barrels per day (bpd) during the six-month waiver period, according to Refinitiv data and Reuters calculations.

This represents a 33 percent drop from an average of 129,300 bpd that Japanese companies lifted between January and September last year before the sanctions kicked in, Refinitiv data showed.

The drop was more than the 20 percent reduction in supplies that Washington was said to have sought from each country over the six-month waiver period.

Japan has increased imports from the Middle East, Russia and the Americas as its Iranian imports fell, according to government data.

Japanese refiners have been pushing the government to seek an extension of the US sanctions waivers after the initial exemption period expires.

Japanese officials and their US counterparts met earlier this month in Washington to discuss the US sanctions.

“I think the waiver could be extended, but maybe for a smaller volume and for a smaller number of countries,” said Takayuki Nogami, chief economist at Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp.

“If the US government does not extend the waiver, it could push crude oil prices up significantly as the gasoline season approaches and it could hurt Trump’s reputation,” he said.

On Wednesday, Japan extended state-backed insurance to cover imports of oil from Iran for another year.

Microsoft says it has seized 99 Iranian websites used to steal confidential information and launch cyber attacks.

In a report by the Associated Press, Microsoft said that it had been tracking and watching the group of hackers for almost six years – since 2013.

The hackers were found to be from Iran but “not specifically to its government,” AP reported. Tehran has also denied being involved in hacking-related sandals in the past.

Speaking to AP, security researcher at Atlanta-based Secureworks, Allison Wikoff, said it is one of the “more active Iranian threat groups” she has observed.

She added Microsoft’s take down was “a big win” using a practice known as “sinkholing,” which involves taking over adversary domains and analyzing their traffic to protect against future attacks.

In the past, Microsoft has taken hackers to court. It used a similar strategy to “sinkholing” in 2016 to seize fake domains created by Russia-backed hackers.

With a violent week behind it, Israel’s security establishment is bracing for thousands of Palestinians to riot this weekend across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, marking Land Day and the one-year anniversary of the Great March of Return demonstrations along the Gaza front.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh called on “our Palestinian people in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and abroad to participate in Land Day [March 30] and take part in the million-man march.”

Last year on Land Day, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began their Great March of Return with thousands of Gazans violently demonstrating along the security fence with Israel, demanding an end to the 12-year-long blockade of the coastal enclave.

Close to 300 Gazans have been killed in the past year, including women and children as well as medics and journalists.

In late January, an IDF officer was lightly wounded after he was struck in his helmet by sniper fire along the Gaza Strip security fence, with PIJ claiming responsibility. The officer was struck near Kibbutz Kissufim, the same area where Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi was fatally shot in the chest by sniper fire. Levi was the first soldier killed along the Gaza front since Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Another soldier was struck by sniper fire in the area less than a week after Levi was killed.

The reinforcement of IDF troops began on Monday, following the firing of a long-range rocket which destroyed a home in Moshav Mishmeret, some 120 km from where it was launched in Rafah.

Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi ordered the mobilization of a divisional brigade and three regular brigades, as well as the call up of additional reserve forces. He also canceled the exchange of IDF battalions in multiple regions that had been scheduled for later this week.

A quick drive to Israel’s South reveals the tanks and armored personnel carriers parked  in fields close to the Gaza border waiting for the order to enter Gaza.

But the order to begin a ground operation never materialized. Instead a shaky ceasefire was reached.

But the IDF did not cancel the deployment of the extra troops. The army is anticipating an exceptionally violent weekend along the fence, not only on Friday when the usual riots take place, but also on Saturday when Palestinians will mark both the one-year anniversary of the Great March of Return and Land Day.

On Wednesday, Kochavi visited the Gaza Division and met with Brig.-Gen. Eliezer Toledano, along with the head of the Southern Command Maj.-Gen. Herzi Halevi.

“During the situational assessment, the chief of staff was briefed on the readiness of troops and for various scenarios, as well as on the readiness of the additional troops that arrived in the past few days,” the IDF said in a statement, adding that operational plans were also discussed.

The IDF is not ruling out any scenario for this upcoming weekend, including the breaching of the security fence by thousands of rioters and Hamas operatives who would try to abduct soldiers or civilians and bring them back inside the Hamas-run enclave.

As such, the IDF has also deployed additional snipers who have been stationed to defend against Gazan sniper fire and explosive devices thrown by Palestinians. Unmanned aerial devices with observation equipment and crowd control measures, as well as combat helicopters, have also been deployed.

During the violent weekly protests, Gazans have been burning tires and hurling stones and marbles, as well as other types of violence which include the throwing of grenades and improvised explosive devices (including military-grade explosives) towards troops. Ball bearings and other projectiles are also launched by high-velocity slingshots towards Israeli forces along the border.

In addition, mines and booby-trapped explosive devices with delayed detonation devices are also laid along the fence during the riots under the cover of smoke and crowds, and “pose a direct threat to the lives and safety of IDF forces operating in the border area,” the military said.

In response to the protests, the IDF has already “substantially” increased its forces deployed on the Gaza border and all troops have undergone “specially developed trainings designed to replicate the expected elements of the Gaza border events.” Israel has also stationed counter-terrorism forces in communities along the Gaza border in order to rapidly respond to any infiltration or military attacks.

The IDF has also deployed Iron Dome missile defense systems across the country should Gazan groups launch rockets towards Israel’s home front.

The IDF has also constructed sand berms to provide defenses for IDF forces along the border, and also dug long trenches and laid barbed wire behind these berms in an attempt to delay crowds and vehicles from reaching Israeli civilian communities following any large-scale infiltration.

The military is also currently developing a fortified vehicle that can shoot water at great distances. Once operational, it is expected these water cannons will help with riot control.

Kochavi – who was recently sworn in as the military’s top officer – has prioritized the southern front as one which could explode into war at any moment, and has visited the Southern Command dozens of times, where he’s met with senior officers and approved operational plans for war, including setting up a centralized administrative unit to prepare a list of potential targets in Gaza should war break out.

While the calm has held since Monday, the tinderbox remains highly combustible. All that is needed is a spark to ignite a conflagration.