“The statements that are being spread on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin are absolutely unfounded,” the committee said in a statement
MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee on Friday demanded that Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the private military company Wagner, stop unlawful actions and said the Russian Federal Security Service started a mutiny investigation in connection with his recent statements.
“The statements that are being spread on behalf of Yevgeny Prigozhin are absolutely unfounded. In connection with these statements, the Federal Security Service of Russia has started an investigation into a call for an armed mutiny. We demand that unlawful actions be stopped immediately,” the committee said in a statement.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the situation that is unfolding around Prigozhin, and the necessary measures are being taken.
Also, the Russian Defense Ministry said that reports circulating on social media that allege the Russian Armed Forces had delivered a strike on “PMC Wagner encampments in the rear” are false.
AP Photo/Mohammed ZaatariMembers of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah in the village of Tefahta, southern Lebanon.
Following the unusual case on the border with Lebanon, a security committee in Israel’s parliament reportedly discussed the incident
Hezbollah forces invaded Israel’s sovereign territory and established a military position over a week ago, local broadcaster Kan revealed on Wednesday. Following the unusual case, a security committee met to discuss the incident.
The Israeli Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee held a closed discussion with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Kan report, quoting lawmakers who participated. The incident occurred “in recent weeks,” when a Hezbollah cell crossed the border and set up a “military position with two tents” that was manned by armed members of the terror organization.
According to the report, it happened in front of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers, and the military initially did not do anything about it, even after it had gone on for weeks. “The issue is serious and is being dealt with by the relevant authorities,” the army responded to Kan.
Israeli defense officials have repeatedly sounded the alarm over tensions on the northern border. They have said the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah terror group and its leader Hassan Nasrallah are preparing for war.
What you see here are three flagpoles but only two flags.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 5:15
Loaded: 3.12%
Israel’s Defense Minister Gallant commented on the situation, when he visited the country’s north to observe a military exercise, saying “I hear our enemies bragging about various weapon developments, for anything like that, we have a better answer – in the air, at sea, and on land, in the defensive and offensive efforts.”
“We know how to protect the citizens of Israel and how to strike our enemies with an eternal blow if, God forbid, they start a war against us,” he warned.
The scene of an Israeli drone strike on a vehicle near the West Bank city of Jenin on June 21, 2023 (Social media: (Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
An Israeli drone struck a car carrying three Palestinian gunmen who had just opened fire at a checkpoint in the northern West Bank on Wednesday night, the military and Shin Bet security agency said.
The strike, which the IDF said killed all three, marked the first targeted killings in the West Bank since 2006, according to the Israel Defense Forces, and came after attack helicopters were used in a military raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin earlier this week, also for the first time in some two decades.
The IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement that the gunmen had opened fire at Jalameh Checkpoint, north of Jenin. Following the shooting attack on the checkpoint, a drone carried out a strike on their vehicle.
Binary Options Fraud – ToI journalist Simona Weinglass’ story
Loaded: 21.37%
The cell was also responsible for a number of recent shooting attacks in the area, the IDF and Shin Bet added, including toward towns in northern Israel, over the West Bank security barrier.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters that three Palestinians were killed in the strike carried out by an Elbit Hermes 450 drone, operated by the Artillery Corps.
The gunmen were named as Suhaib al-Ghoul, 27, Muhammad Awais, 28, and Ashraf a-Saadi, 17.
(Left to right) Suhaib al-Ghoul, 27, Muhammad Awais, 28, and Ashraf a-Saadi, 17, Palestinian gunmen killed in an IDF drone strike near the West Bank city of Jenin, June 22, 2023. (Courtesy)
A local wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Jenin said al-Ghoul was a commander in the local wing — known as the Jenin Battalion — and a-Saadi was a fighter.
Awais was identified as a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a coalition of armed groups loosely affiliated with the Palestinian Authority’s ruling Fatah party.
Their bodies were seized by Israeli security forces, and three assault rifles were also found in their car.
Weapons found in a car struck by an Israeli drone near the northern West Bank city of Jenin, June 21, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)
Hagari didn’t label the incident a targeted killing, but said it was about “removing a threat.”
“We identified a vehicle shooting at the checkpoint and removed the threat,” he said.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant hailed the drone strike.
“I praise the security forces who a short time ago carried out a targeted elimination of a terrorist squad that fired toward Israeli territory, and had previously carried out several shooting attacks,” Gallant said on Twitter.
“We will take an offensive and proactive approach to combat terrorism, we will use all the means at our disposal and we will exact the heaviest price from every terrorist or terrorist emissary,” he added.
Gallant had to personally authorize the drone strike, as it represents a marked escalation in Israel’s efforts to combat terror in the region.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (C) at the scene, the day after a terror attack near the West Bank settlement of Eli, on June 21, 2023 (Ariel Hermoni/Defense Ministry)
Over the past year, Palestinian gunmen have repeatedly targeted troops carrying out arrest raids, military posts, Israeli settlements and civilians on roads, especially in the northern West Bank.
The Shin Bet has recorded 147 “significant” terror attacks in Israel and the West Bank this year, including 120 shootings, a spokesperson told The Times of Israel earlier on Wednesday.
The Shin Bet said security forces have foiled 375 significant attacks so far this year, including some 300 planned shootings. “Significant attacks” is a term that encompasses shootings, bombings, car rammings and kidnappings.
In 2022, Israeli security officials recorded nearly 300 shooting attacks, the vast majority in the West Bank, and said the military and Shin Bet foiled around 500 planned significant attacks.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen attend the funeral of fellow member in the Jenin refugee camp on October 8, 2022. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)
Tensions between Israel and the Palestinians have been elevated for the past year and a half, with the military carrying out near-nightly raids in the West Bank, amid a series of deadly Palestinian terror attacks.
Since the beginning of the year, Palestinian attacks in Israel and the West Bank have killed 24 people, including 17-year-old Nachman Mordoff, 17-year-old Elisha Anteman, 21-year-old Harel Masood and 64-year-old Ofer Fayerman, shot dead by Hamas-affiliated gunmen on Tuesday near the settlement of Eli.
According to a tally by The Times of Israel, 132 West Bank Palestinians have been killed during that span, most of them during clashes with security forces or while carrying out attacks, but some were uninvolved civilians and others were killed under unclear circumstances.
