The arrest period for five people accused of participating in riots at Makhachkala airport has been extended until December 30. The court in Armavir, at the request of the prosecution, postponed the hearing of the case, since one of the accused was not brought to the Krasnodar Territory.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, the first hearing in the case of five participants in the riots at the Makhachkala airport in the Armavir City Court was supposed to take place at the end of May, but the accused did not have time to transfer them. The date of the first meeting was postponed to June 18.
On February 17, relatives of rioters at the Makhachkala airport turned to Putin asking for leniency. They stated that their detained loved ones were victims of provocation and made a mistake. The authors of the appeal noted that some families do not have the opportunity to travel to court hearings in the Krasnodar Territory, where the case of five accused was transferred. Lawyers noted that the transfer of the case to Kuban could be appealed, but it is unlikely to be rushed.
Today, the Armavir City Court was to begin the hearing of the case of unrest at the Makhachkala airport against five defendants - Anvarbek Ataev, Islam Ibragimov, Magomed Omaraskhabov, Rabadan Radzhabov and Salik Ramazanov.
However, the consideration on the merits was not started; the hearing was postponed to July 3 due to the failure to present one of the defendants, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told in the Armavir City Court staff.
Four of the five defendants were brought to court, and the fifth, Salik Ramazanov, did not have time to be escorted from the Krasnodar pre-trial detention center. State prosecutor Irina Goryaeva petitioned to postpone the case, considering that the defendant’s participation in the hearing via video conference was unacceptable, Youth of Dagestan informed today.
The Armavir City Court extended the arrest until December 30 of five defendants in the case of mass riots at the Makhachkala airport in October last year, RIA Novosti reported today with reference to the joint press service of the courts of the Krasnodar Territory.
134 people are under arrest in the case of unrest at the Makhachkala airport, two more are under house arrest, the accused claim that they were at the airport, but did not take part in the unrest, said Shamil Khadulaev, chairman of the POC of Dagestan, on June 13. According to him, the case of the five accused was the first to reach the court; the remaining cases are at the investigation stage or in the prosecutor's office. It is necessary to publicly punish in Dagestan those whose guilt in attacking police officers and damaging airport property has been proven, and staying at the airport does not lead to criminal liability, emphasized lawyer Arsen Magomedov. In their opinion, transferring the trial to the Krasnodar Territory is illogical, since all the accused are from ordinary families and cannot influence the court.
Let us recall that on October 29, 2023, mass riots occurred at the Makhachkala airport due to reports of the arrival of a plane with passengers from Israel. More than 20 people were injured in the riots, including nine police officers. By January 12, the district courts of Dagestan had received administrative cases of more than 900 people accused in connection with the unrest.
The defense succeeded in including in the case of Nadezhda Kevorkova, accused of justifying terrorism, statements by the Russian President and the head of the Foreign Ministry about the possibility of building relations with the Taliban government* and excluding the movement from the list of those banned in Russia, the lawyer said. The extension of the journalist's arrest will be appealed.
As the "Caucasian Knot" wrote, on May 7, the Basmanny Court of Moscow arrested 65-year-old journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova, accused of justifying terrorism, for two months. Kevorkova, during interrogation by the Investigative Committee, refused to admit guilt. Today, the Basmanny Court of Moscow extended her arrest until August 6.
The text by Orhan Dzhemal, the publication of which became the reason for Kevorkova’s accusation, had not previously been declared illegal. The arguments that the publication on Kevorkova’s telegram channel was accessible to a wide audience do not correspond to reality, the lawyer emphasized. Nadezhda Kevorkova’s publications about the events in Nalchik in 2005 concerned the torture to which detainees were subjected and irritated the security forces, while “she did not support terror in any form,” said Kevorkova’s ex-husband, journalist Maxim Shevchenko.
Today the Basmanny Court of Moscow considered a petition to extend the detention of journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova. The journalist was brought to the courtroom from the pre-trial detention center for the hearing. Representatives of the media, as well as relatives, colleagues, and friends of Kevorkova came to the court, but only close relatives were able to enter the courtroom. Writing journalists were simply not allowed into the hall. The judge opposed the installation of an additional bench for the press and the public; only seven people were allowed into the courtroom, including one journalist, a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent who visited the court reported.
Judge Timur Vakhrameev of the Basmanny Court read out the decision to extend the detention of journalist Nadezhda Kevorkova without any reasoning. The reasons for the detention of the 65-year-old journalist were voiced by the investigator, who is confident that “Kevorkova can put pressure on witnesses and hide materials on the case.”
Nadezhda herself behaved cheerfully, with a smile. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, along with other journalists, was able to photograph Kevorkova before the start of the meeting.
Friends of the journalist congratulated her on the birth of her granddaughter, the daughter of Vasily Polonsky.
Journalists managed to ask Kevorkova a question about the conditions of detention. “It’s normal, like in a pioneer camp,” she answered. After this, the bailiff interrupted communication. The majority of both journalists and those who came to support Kevorkova were not allowed into the courtroom.
Kevorkova's lawyer Albina Pavlova asked the court to choose a different measure of restraint not related to detention. The defense also put forward a number of motions.
“This time, unlike the last meeting, the judge agreed to include in the case statements by Russian officials (Putin, Lavrov) about the Taliban movement (The Taliban movement is banned in Russia), from which it was clear that the movement could be excluded from the list extremist,” Albina Pavlova told the “Caucasian Knot” correspondent.
The initiative to exclude the Taliban from the list of terrorist organizations banned in Russia is due to the fact that it has real power in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on May 27. “They are the real power. We are not indifferent to Afghanistan,” TASS quoted him as saying. Lavrov added that this process is associated with “awareness of reality.” A similar opinion was expressed a day later by the Russian President, noting that it is necessary to build relations with the Islamist radical Taliban movement. “We need to build it somehow, these are the people who control the country,”
TASS quoted him as saying on May 28. The head of state voiced a similar opinion on June 5. “We have always proceeded from the fact that we must proceed from reality. The Taliban control power in Afghanistan. <...> We must build relations with the Taliban government,” the agency quoted him as saying.
She noted that the conditions of detention in the pre-trial detention center do not upset Kevorkova. “She doesn’t like to complain at all and doesn’t complain. The letters are getting through. There were no visits with relatives, although they asked for it. But this is a common practice; during the preliminary investigation, visits are very rarely allowed,” Pavlova explained.
She indicated that the appeal against the choice of a preventive measure on May 7 will be considered in the Moscow City Court only on June 26. “We will also appeal this extension,” Pavlova said.
One of Kevorkova’s relatives (Polonsky was not in the courtroom) said that letters reach Nadezhda from everywhere without problems. “There are no problems with parcels and transfers. Books from the home library were also transferred. They are checked by the prison library, which puts its stamp on them,” she explained.
According to Kevorkova’s relatives, parcels should be sent to her only after coordination with her defenders and relatives.
Let us remind you that Kevorkova was accused of justifying terrorism for publications in her Telegram channel. The reason was the repost of a text from 2010 by journalist Orkhan Dzhemal about the attack on Nalchik and a publication about the Taliban movement.
As follows from the publication dated September 23, 2018, Kevorkova in her Telegram channel completely reprinted the text of Orkhan Dzhemal, adding only one phrase on her own: “Text of 2010 by Orkhan Dzhemal on the death of Anzor Astemirov.” In his article, Orkhan Dzhemal talked about his acquaintance with Anzor Astemirov and the miscalculations of the authorities that led to discontent among Muslims.
On October 13, 2005, there was an armed attack on Nalchik, the participant of which, Anzor Astemirov, was the subject of Dzhemal’s 2010 article. According to investigators, at least 250 militants took part in the attack. As a result, 35 security forces and 15 civilians were killed, 129 security forces and 66 civilians were injured. During the fighting in the city, 95 militants were killed, according to the “Caucasian Knot” certificate “ Attack on Nalchik on October 13-14, 2005.”
by Viktor Vasiliev
The action of the “prison jamaat” of ISIS in Rostov-on-Don showed that experts were right when they predicted that the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall was just the beginning. The statements and plans of the Islamic State must be taken extremely seriously.
There is ample open-source evidence, including statements by Russian officials and public experts, to suggest that the Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, known as Wilayat Khorasan, will carry out a large-scale terrorist attack as early as this summer to capture a separate region in Central Asia. Asia.
The action can take place either in the format of a territorial invasion or be accompanied by terrorist and political activity designed to destabilize the entire region. The only question is where exactly to wait for the blow.
Activation of ISIS-Khorasan
“Vilayat Khorasan” has existed since 2014. Initially, the group consisted mainly of Afghans who broke away from the Taliban, but later militants from other countries, including the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, began to join it.
The UN Security Council report of 2023 stated that Vilayat Khorasan includes citizens of Pakistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
The Afghan United Front (AUF), led by Sami Sadat, a former Afghan special forces commander, published an interesting report on June 5 with information about the Vilayat Khorasan.
The report states that ISIS-Khorasan currently has 9,000 troops in Afghanistan and is thus able to carry out attacks "across the region." Moreover, the size of these forces is rapidly increasing and opens up the possibility not only of suicide attacks, riots and murders in cities, but also of systemic attacks on government targets or economic centers.
Vilayat Khorasan is currently the largest and strongest center of IS in the world. The branch's leadership is based in Baluchistan in Pakistan, and its members are stationed in Afghanistan. According to the report, by the end of 2023, many active ISIS leaders from Syria and Iraq traveled to the Balochistan region of Pakistan and Kunar province of Afghanistan.
The data from the report of the United Front of Afghanistan generally confirms recent publications (dated June 15) by Russian expert Andrei Serenko. According to his sources, “in a number of provinces of the country, ISIS has intensified attempts to recruit former security forces of the republican regime - military personnel of the Afghan National Army (ANA), special forces soldiers (commandos), employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the security service.”
The jihadists offer good wages by Afghan standards ($400-450 per month), as well as protection from ongoing Taliban repression. Former security officials, who have become outcasts under the current authorities, often agree to be recruited.
A significant increase in the recruitment campaign may indicate that ISIS is preparing for a large-scale military action in the region. Serenko suggests that the terrorists' plans may be connected with Northern Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Factions and diasporas
Vilayat Khorasan is an ethnically and geographically heterogeneous network. It is known that the branch includes four centers - Afghan, Pakistani, Iranian and Central Asian.
A major attack in the Moscow region was carried out by the forces of ISIS-Khorasan Central Asia, which relies on a large Tajik diaspora. The latter is largely formed from Tajiks who were forced out of the Republic of Tajikistan itself by the Emomali Rahmon regime, which harshly suppressed any manifestations of religious radicalism.
The April news that security officers of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan detained two Tajiks who were traveling from the Vladimir region of Russia to Pakistan to join the Islamic State banned in Russia is very typical in this sense.
But the largest and most radical ethnic faction in ISIS-Khorasan Central Asia are the Uzbeks. There are about 1,000 militants. They also carry out general management of the center.
The Uzbek faction of ISIS-Khorasan Central Asia arose from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) in the summer of 2015, when the deputy leader of the IMU, Amir Usman Ghazi, rebelled against his own Amir Aziz Yuldash, son of Tahir Yuldash, the founder of the IMU.
Ghazi and his followers, numbering about 60 fighters, pledged allegiance to ISIS and demanded that Aziz do the same. Aziz and about 40 of his men refused. In response, Usman Ghazi arrested them all, killing 40 militants and Aziz's entire family, including his mother, wife and one-year-old son. By pure chance, Yuldash himself managed to escape, but he was later killed by the Afghan Taliban, in 2020.
Currently, it is the Uzbek faction “Vilayat Khorasan” that is most motivated and inclines the branch to take active action in the territory of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. Over the past two years, they have created quite developed networks in these countries and attracted a significant number of young radicals.
The Uzbeks who were in Syria returned to Afghanistan two years ago, and they focused all their efforts on recruiting their relatives who traditionally lived in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as in Uzbekistan itself. Using social media, their preachers attracted a large number of followers.
Russia is under attack
The propaganda of Vilayat Khorasan draws special attention of its adherents to the fact that Russia maintains good neighborly relations with the Taliban movement, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021.
In September 2022, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for a terrorist attack near the Russian embassy in Kabul, which killed two employees of the Russian diplomatic mission - one of the few that did not stop working after the Taliban came to power.
Russia was one of the first countries to establish relations with the leadership of the Taliban. The Taliban have repeatedly taken part in high-profile state events in Russia (the same SPIEF).
ISIS-Khorasan considers Russia the main support of the Taliban.
The global goal of the leaders of “Vilayat” is to return Afghanistan to the 1990s and transform the country into a new central base for ISIS. Terrorist and recruitment activity on Russian territory is connected with this.
But if in relation to Russian territories the maximum that the organization is capable of is sabotage, then in relation to Russia’s allies in Central Asia its capabilities are an order of magnitude higher.
Who can be targeted by ISIS
In April 2024, the then head of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Sergei Shoigu, met in Astana with colleagues from the SCO countries. Shoigu noted that the situation in Afghanistan is complex and is a source of the spread of terrorism and extremism.
Washington began to actively restore its positions in Central and South Asia after the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. I believe that everyone present shares the opinion that the deployment of military infrastructure in the region by the United States and its allies is unacceptable. Such intentions must be regarded as a direct threat to stability in the SCO space,” the head of the military department emphasized.
In June, already in the status of Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergei Shoigu repeated these theses. During a meeting of the Committee of Security Council Secretaries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) in Almaty, he outlined the threat to the countries of the bloc as follows:
“We are recording the emergence of new militant training camps and the ongoing transfer of terrorists from Syria and Iraq to Afghanistan. The likelihood of terrorism spreading beyond the country’s borders is increasing.”
The problem has been voiced at the highest level. It remains to understand where the blow will be struck.
The militants are waiting for the height of summer (July-August) to take advantage of the opened paths through the passes on the borders of Afghanistan with Tajikistan and Tajikistan with Kyrgyzstan and make their attack unexpected. If Uzbekistan is chosen as the target of the Islamists, the blow will also fall on the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan.
If we assume that such an attack could be used in the interests of the West, then we must admit that Tajikistan itself is of little interest in this role. It is much more interesting to disrupt the emerging logistics corridor between Moscow and Beijing (including the officially announced start of construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway).
The south of Kyrgyzstan and regions inhabited by ethnic Uzbeks are under serious threat. And from there, if they manage to gain a foothold, the extremists could spread their influence to other regions of the Fergana Valley (primarily Andijan and Namangan).
Let me remind you that the suicide bomber who carried out an explosion in the metro in St. Petersburg in 2017 was a 22-year-old native of the Osh region of Kyrgyzstan, an ethnic Uzbek Akbarzhon Jalilov.
Ideal goal
Due to the liberal policy of the Kyrgyz authorities in the field of religion, the most radical Uzbeks of Uzbekistan itself have found refuge in this country. Moreover, it was ethnic Uzbeks, immigrants from the southern regions of Kyrgyzstan, who were most noticeable among the new adherents of ISIS in Syria and Iraq, rather than Uzbeks from Uzbekistan itself. The same is largely true for the also fairly large Tajik diaspora in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan is also Russia's closest ally in the CSTO. The political closeness of the two countries and the bilateral growth of economic cooperation have reached an unprecedented level. Destabilization of the south of the country could also be used to remove Moscow-friendly Sadyr Japarov.
The probable direction of impact can be determined by the method of exclusion.
Uzbekistan, with its strongest army in the region and a stable socio-economic situation, is simply too tough for ISIS-Khorasan. Tajikistan, due to the already pro-Western political position of its leadership and the absence of any significant geopolitical interests of Moscow and Beijing in the country, is also an unlikely target.
Thus, the only “ideal” target remains - Kyrgyzstan, whose southern regions are of significant geopolitical importance for Beijing and Moscow.
A scenario cannot be ruled out, according to which the Tajik special services will simply provide a “corridor” for terrorists through their territory. In 1999, during the so-called After the Batken events, fighting lasted for two months in the south of Kyrgyzstan with the participation of, among other things, the armed forces of Uzbekistan against two hundred militants of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. According to rumors, the Tajik authorities then simply “let through” the militants, thus hoping to “annoy” Islam Karimov, with whom Emomali Rahmon had tense relations at that time.
In the south of Kyrgyzstan (Batken, Osh and Jalal-Abad regions) there are about 1 million ethnic Uzbeks, who at one time were known for their extreme opposition to Islam Karimov.
As a national minority in the region, Uzbeks regret the events of 2010, when, as a result of interethnic clashes in the city of Osh, they found themselves on the losing side. The Americans, for their part, even tried to play the genocide card. ISIS-Khorasan can also “play” on this same grievance, among other things.
Vulnerability of Kyrgyzstan
If we talk about the internal political situation in Kyrgyzstan itself, despite the outward appearance of calm and high ratings of the current head of state, in practice everything is being done to deprive Japarov of political and power levers of influence.
Not only has the obvious political opposition been largely purged from the country, but also, surprisingly, pro-presidential political parties in the Jogorku Kenesh (the country's parliament) have found themselves in the minority.
Parliament is controlled by its chairman Nurlanbek Shakiyev, who initiates the adoption of unpopular and frankly odious laws. At the same time, Shakiyev is developing his own foreign policy activity.
For example, on March 8, the Chairman of the Jogorku Kenesh visited London at the head of an official delegation, where he met with the Speaker of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, Lord Harvey Hoyle, and stated : “Strengthening comprehensive relations with Great Britain is a priority in the foreign policy of Kyrgyzstan.”
Such unpopular measures as raising tariffs, introducing new taxes, excise taxes, refusing to work with the Russian payment system MIR, etc. are also being taken by the cabinet of ministers under the leadership of Akylbek Zhaparov and Edil Baisalov (the latter is completely controlled by the British).
Thus, the actions of parliament and the government provoke social discontent, the addressee of which is the president. This prepares the ground for protests.
Another direction of discrediting Zhaparov is throwing in compromising material. For example, it was alleged that he received $3 million for his election campaign from a corrupt official.
A great many such facts and “purely random” but unpleasant political coincidences have accumulated in the Kyrgyz Republic in recent months. All this makes the first person of the state very vulnerable and can play against Kyrgyzstan in the event of external terrorist sabotage or a full-fledged invasion of militants in the south of the country.
A full-fledged territorial invasion of ISIS-Khorasan from Afghanistan, if it takes place this summer, will most likely be accompanied by terrorist attacks in all major cities of Central Asia, similar to the terrorist attack in Crocus City in the Moscow region. And in this situation, the absence of a stable central government will not allow us to effectively curb the terrorist threat.
Rostov-on-Don, June 18, 2024, 18:05 - IA Regnum. One of the terrorists who took hostages in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don on June 16 survived, RT reported on June 18.
We are talking about Dmitry Kamneev, born in 1996. Previously, he converted to Islam and became a supporter of one of its radical movements, a law enforcement source told the TV channel. Kamneev was found guilty of participating in the activities of an extremist organization and after the verdict was pronounced he was in a Rostov detention center.
When an ambulance arrived at the pre-trial detention center after the assault, Kamneev was the only one of the criminals who remained alive, and the doctors were able to save his life. Five of Kamneev's accomplices were eliminated.
As Regnum reported, on the morning of June 16, in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Rostov-on-Don, six prisoners were able to get out of their cells and took an operational officer and an inspector-supervisor hostage. The criminals demanded weapons and a car to leave.
The invaders called themselves supporters of IS (a terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited in Russia). Three of those who took hostages were preparing to blow up the Supreme Court building in Karachay-Cherkessia in 2023. FSB officers then stopped the crime and detained the attackers.
The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the incident under Art. 206 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Hostage-taking”). Riot police officers arrived at the pre-trial detention center, and soon after, the FSIN press service reported that the militants had been eliminated, and that none of the hostages were injured.
During a search in the pre-trial detention center after the hostage-taking, several prohibited items were seized, regional law enforcement agencies reported on June 17. We also talked about means of communication.
This detention center lacks about 30% of staff and at the same time there is an excess of the prisoner limit, Alexey Melnikov, a member of the Human Rights Council and executive secretary of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission, previously told reporters.
Moscow, June 18, 2024, 20:26 - IA Regnum. The State Duma, at a plenary session on June 18, adopted in the first reading a bill on criminal liability for transporting pathogenic materials into the territory of Russia and for violating safety rules when handling them, according to the Duma website.
In particular, the bill proposes to establish criminal liability for a term of up to 12 years in prison for transporting into the country pathogenic biological organisms - viruses, toxins, bioagents obtained as a result of various genetic manipulations and biosynthesis, and up to 8 years - for violating safety rules when handling with them.
The document was developed by the inter-factional working group of the State Duma on biological safety issues based on the results of the work of the parliamentary commission to investigate the activities of American biological laboratories in Ukraine.
“The investigation revealed numerous facts of experiments with biological weapons that were carried out by the United States near our borders in Ukraine. We need more effective measures to counter these threats,” emphasized State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.
As Regnum reported, Russian Ambassador to The Hague and Permanent Representative to the OPCW Vladimir Tarabrin on March 24 announced that Russia has information that 30 biological laboratories continue to operate on the territory of Ukraine, which are working on behalf of Washington. The diplomat recalled that on the day the special military operation began, the Ukrainian authorities hastily began to destroy the dangerous samples stored in these laboratories, but in 2023 the Kiev regime resumed the implementation of these programs, changing their names.
Russian Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov previously stated that the United States has turned Ukraine into a testing ground for the illegal implementation of military-biological programs.
In August 2023, one of the US presidential candidates from the Democratic Party, Robert Kennedy Jr., admitted that the United States was creating laboratories in Ukraine as part of its biological weapons program. He also clarified that American specialists are developing, in particular, bioweapons.
Berlin\, June 18, 2024, 16:14 - IA Regnum. Terrorists of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP, a terrorist organization whose activities are banned in the Russian Federation) used Ukraine as a transit point to Europe. This was announced by the head of the Office for the Protection of the German Constitution, responsible for domestic intelligence, Thomas Haldenwang.
According to the department, in 2023, terrorists disguised as refugees entered Western countries through Ukraine.
“ISKH managed to transport its supporters to Western Europe, presumably through a wave of refugees from Ukraine,” Haldenwang clarified during his 2023 report.
The head of the department added that the German federal authorities, together with colleagues from other European countries, are closely monitoring the processes of movement of refugees in order to prevent possible terrorist attacks.
As Haldenwang noted, ISKH is currently the most dangerous terrorist group. At the same time, according to the head of the German Ministry of Internal Affairs, Nancy Feser, there are currently about 27 thousand followers of radical Islamism in Germany.
According to her, threats of terrorist attacks from both individuals and small groups remain.
As Regnum reported, in early January the Bild newspaper wrote that German security services had identified several potential terrorists from Tajikistan who were posing as Ukrainian refugees. The publication said that the detained refugees were associated with a new extremist group called the Islamic State of Khorasan. According to the publication, they have already tried three times to organize terrorist attacks in Germany.
It was then noted that Islamists, posing as refugees from Ukraine, use fake documents, and also tell fictitious cases of torture and further persecution, after which they are allowed to stay in Germany “almost without checks.” Moreover, the situation is aggravated by the fact that those arriving in Germany from Central Asia may receive weapons or explosives, since their route may pass through the war zone in Ukraine, the authors of the article concluded.
[NYPost] "How dare you expose our hypocrisy for electoral votes in Michigan!"
The White House canceled a high-level meeting with Israel that was scheduled for Thursday after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video claiming the US was withholding military aid, according to a report.
Top advisers to President Biden were shocked and outraged by Netanyahu’s claims that the US has withheld weapons and ammunition from Israel, with a senior Israeli official telling Axios, "The Americans are fuming. Bibi’s video made a lot of damage."
Hours after the explosive video was published, US envoy Amos Hochstein personally delivered a message telling Netanyahu his accusations were incorrect and out of line.
Soon after, the White House canceled a Thursday meeting on Iran, two US and Israeli sources told Axios.
"This decision makes it clear that there are consequences for pulling such stunts," one of the U.S. officials said.
In his video, speaking in English, Netanyahu declared that it was "inconceivable that in the past few months, the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel."
Meanwhile, the White House publicly expressed confusion over Netanyahu’s comments, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying only one weapons shipment had been paused since the start of the war.
"We genuinely do not know what he is talking about," she noted.
Several Israeli officials were already traveling to Washington when the meetings on Iran were canceled, according to the report.
While two US officials said the meeting was canceled to send a message about the video, a third said it was postponed, not canceled, over a scheduling conflict.
This was the second time a meeting on the Iran strategic dialogue was canceled last minute. In March Netanyahu canceled a meeting after the US declined to veto a UN Security resolution that included a reference to a ceasefire in Gaza.
Despite strained relations between Biden and Netanyahu, the Israeli leader is expected to address a joint meeting of Congress on July 24, setting the stage for what is expected to be a contentious speech at a crucial moment for the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/19/2024 09:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
E-Mail||
[170 views]
Top|| File under: Tin Hat Dictators, Presidents for Life, & Kleptocrats
#1
White House put themselves in a no-win situation during a election year. Being Lefties though they project the blame on others.
Tel Aviv, Israel, June 19, 2024, 00:43 - IA Regnum. The IDF said it had approved and approved combat plans for the offensive in Lebanon. The decision was made on June 18 following an operational meeting at the Northern Command headquarters.
A statement issued by the Israel Defense Forces indicated that the commander of the Northern Military District, Ori Gordin, and the chief of the operational department of the General Staff, Oded Basyuk, approved combat plans after assessing the situation.
They approved military plans for the offensive in Lebanon and made decisions to continue improving the combat readiness of the army on the ground.
As Regnum reported, several targets of the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement in southern Lebanon were attacked by Israeli combat aircraft on June 16. Among the objects attacked were a military building and a weapons warehouse.
On June 12, Israeli troops killed a Hezbollah commander who was described as the group's "most important" target. He was killed in a strike on the city of Juaya in southern Lebanon.
The IDF and the Israeli Government's Office for the Coordination of Activities in the Palestinian Territories have imposed a daily " tactical pause " in the fighting in the southern Gaza Strip.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
