IDF reportedly used controversial ‘Hannibal Directive’ to kill Israelis during Hamas attack

The Israeli military reportedly resorted to a controversial Hannibal Directive, used by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) to prevent the capture of Israeli citizens and soldiers by enemy forces, while repelling the October 7 Hamas attack, according to the Israeli publication, Haaretz.

🔸The IDF made the decision to employ the Hannibal Directive at multiple sites in the early hours of the Hamas incursion in October 2023, as the documents obtained by Haaretz show.

🔸At 6:43 am (GMT+2) on October 7, Gaza Division Commander Brigadier General Avi Rosenfeld set in motion a series of measures, including the shelling of Israeli citizens.

🔸The Israeli media outlet claims that a directive, under the code: "Hannibal at Erez, dispatch a Zik" at 7:18 am meant that an unmanned assault drone was launched to prevent the capture of Israelis.

🔸Another order "Not a single vehicle can return to Gaza" issued at 11:22 am reportedly envisaged the elimination of all vehicles, including those carrying kidnapped Israelis.

🔸The newly obtained information seems to confirm earlier reports by alternative media sources, which had been dismissed and discredited by Tel Aviv.

🔸The Hannibal Directive was established in 1986 after a string of abductions of IDF soldiers in Lebanon and subsequent exchanges of prisoners. The IDF directive, allowing the killing of Israeli soldiers and shelling vehicles carrying abductees, remained a military secret until 2003.

🔸In August 2014, the US press shed light on the killing of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier who was reported captured by Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip, and then declared dead. According to a report by the New Yorker magazine, the serviceman was killed under the Hannibal Directive.

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🎥 Pantsir-S1 air defense crew obliterates enemy drone in Battlegroup Vostok’s zone of responsibility 

The airspace above Russian troops' positions is monitored round-the-clock by anti-aircraft missile and gun systems. The Pantsir-S1 system is equipped with 12 anti-aircraft missiles and two double-barreled 30mm cannons, each loaded with 1,400 rounds of ammo, to effectively destroy targets.

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🇷🇺 Russian ZALA drone aids precise strike on enemy

A ZALA reconnaissance drone crew identified an enemy concentration of manpower and hardware at a camouflaged stronghold in a forested area. They quickly transmitted the coordinates to artillery and Lancet barrage munition operators, who then launched a precise strike, destroying U.S.-made M777 howitzers, tanks, and French-made Caesar self-propelled guns.

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Sorry not sorry: EU "regrets" Ukraine death toll, but to continue supplying weapons to Kiev

"We certainly regret that people are dying, but Ukrainian soldiers are fighting and dying because they are defending their country," EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Wednesday during a speech at the fifth NATO Anniversary Summit in Washington.

The EU will continue to support Ukraine, Borrell added.

"I am happy to have heard [US] President Biden a moment ago to say that Russia cannot prevail, for that we have to increase our [military] industrial capacity, putting more money on the table, more technological development," he said.

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❗️Russian forces have destroyed three Improved HAWK anti-aircraft missile launchers in Ukraine, as well as targeted storage facilities for Ukrainian unmanned boats, according to the Ministry of Defence.

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❗️The Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) lost up to 600 militants in the area of responsibility of the Russian Battlegroup Yug.

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Dnepr destroyed a field artillery ammunition depot.

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Sever inflicted losses on six enemy brigades, with the UAF losing up to 275 militants.

◻️ The UAF lost up to 495 militants and a tank in the area of responsibility of the Russian Battlegroup Zapad.

◻️ The Russian Battlegroup Zapad inflicted damage on formations of five enemy brigades, including the 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov (recognized as a terrorist organization and banned in Russia).

◻️ Russian air defense systems shot down four ATACMS missiles, four Hammer guided bombs, three HIMARS shells, and 55 Ukrainian drones.

◻️ The UAF lost up to 510 militants in the area of responsibility of the Russian Battlegroup Tsentr.

◻️ Units of the Russian Battlegroup Vostok took more advantageous positions, with the UAF losing up to 135 militants.

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French snap election marked the failure of EU warmongering

The snap election resulted in no majority and no obvious coalition in the French National Assembly, raising the question of whether the left-wing and centrist parties would be able to form a functioning government.

"This is the key question," Fabien Chalandon, French political commentator and writer, told Sputnik. "No party has any majority, and any government can be deposed at any time by a combination of the two other groups. The parliament is therefore in a gridlock and ungovernable."

The winner of the snap election, the left-wing New Popular Front (NFP) is a hastily-built coalition of small parties with simmering differences on many issues including Ukraine, whose sole purpose was to defeat the National Rally (RN). The likelihood of the NFP coalition passing the test of time is doubtful, the pundit said.

The composition of the new parliament is likely to disrupt French President Emmanuel Macron's bellicose agenda, he added. Over the past months Macron has made a series of controversial statements, ranging from putting NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine to promoting the idea of a "major European loan" to finance the bloc's rearmament effort.

"On Ukraine, the NFP is clearly against the EU and EU support of Ukraine. But so is the Unbowed France Party,” Chalandon said. “Any proposal for additional funding to Ukraine may not be approved if these two coalesce to block it, even if they do not coordinate."

Europeans have increasingly started to realize the collective West's hypocrisy towards Ukraine, according to the pundit. The West's 20-year-long provocations against Russia and the US and UK-led sabotage of the Russo-Ukrainian draft peace deal in April 2022 is also becoming obvious to the Western public, he noted.

"Ukraine’s war and open-ended funding will not continue unabated and may progressively appear for what it is: the main cause of Europe’s recent economic downfall," Chalandon concluded.

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Your wife? Bumbling Joe Biden stumbles on statement to Stoltenberg at NATO summit

“I realized, I was <...> your wife,” he says before laughing nervously, and going on to apologize.

The video has gone viral on social media. Neither the White House nor NATO have commented on the flub so far.

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The Russian military officer, whom Ukrainian intelligence attempted to recruit in order to commit a terrorist attack on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, tells his story.

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Islamic Resistance of Iraq released footage of a drone launching towards targets near Eilat, Israel

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❗️The US and its allies are currently sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, which will arrive in Kiev this summer, stated Blinken.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously stated that Moscow would interpret any potential transfer of nuclear-capable F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine as a deliberate signal from NATO in the realm of nuclear issues.

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The withdrawal of the IDF from the border area between the Gaza Strip and Egypt as part of the deal to release hostages held by Hamas is not ruled out if arms smuggling is stopped, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said.

"A solution is needed that will stop smuggling attempts and cut off potential supply routes for Hamas, as well as allow for the withdrawal of Israel Defense Forces from the corridor as part of the hostage release deal," Gallant said during a meeting with White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, as quoted by the Defense Ministry.

Gallant also told the US official that Israel supports reopening of a checkpoint in Rafah but will not tolerate return of Hamas to the area, the ministry said.

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There can be no talk of Ukraine's NATO membership, because this would mean direct conflict between the alliance and Russia, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has warned.

The danger of Kiev joining NATO is understood by everyone in their right mind, the Hungarian FM insisted.

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🎥 Mutual military might: Chinese troops take part in joint anti-terror drills with Belarus

The said anti-terrorist exercises are being held at the Brest training ground, which is situated 30 km from the border with Poland and approximately 40 km from the Ukrainian boundary.

The exercises will continue until July 19 and are intended to establish the groundwork for joint troop training between the two republics.

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Pride of the Russian Fleet: What to know about Russia’s Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier

The FSB has foiled an attempt by Ukrainian spies to recruit a Russian serviceman to carry out a terrorist attack on the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier.

The Kuznetsov, currently docked in Murmansk for modernization, is the pride of the Northern Fleet, the flagship of the Navy and the only aircraft carrier in Russia’s arsenal.

◾️ Laid down in 1982 and commissioned in 1991, the Kuznetsov is an upgrade of the Project 1143 Kiev-class of warships — the USSR’s first fixed-wing-carrying aircraft carriers, officially known as ‘heavy aircraft cruisers’.

◾️ The Kuznetsov is 305 m long, displaces up to 59,100t, can make of 29 knots, has an 8,500 nautical mile range and a 45-day endurance.

◾️ Her 1,960-man crew have duties from servicing and operating the ship’s air group — which includes 630 personnel manning and maintaining up to 50 jets and helicopters, including Su-33, Su-25UTG or MiG-29K jets and Ka-31 and Ka-27 helicopters — to operating systems including radar, comms and electronic warfare equipment, P-700 Granit anti-ship missiles, 3K95 Kinzhal SAMs, Kashtan CIWS, AK-630 AA guns and the Udav ASW system.

◾️ The Kuznetsov carried out her only combat mission from November 2016 to January 2017, launching 420 sorties against 1,252 terrorist targets in Syria. She made six other distant-water voyages, five in the Mediterranean and one in the North Atlantic, between 1995 and 2014.

◾️ While the Kuznetsov is the only surviving ship of her kind in Russia’s arsenal today, others from her class have boosted the navies of Russia’s BRICS partners. India bought the Project 1143 Admiral Gorshkov from Russia in 2004, modernizing and commissioning her as the INS Vikramaditya in 2013. China bought the Varyag, an unfinished Project 1143.5 ship, from Ukraine in 1998, finishing and modernizing her in 2012 and naming her the Liaoning, and using the blueprints to build China’s first-ever domestically made carrier – the Shandong – in 2019.

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German AfD party agrees to form small faction in European Parliament - media

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has agreed with several parties from other EU countries to form a small right-wing faction called "Europe of Sovereign Nations" in the European Parliament, according to Welt.

"The AfD delegation in the European Parliament has decided to form a new faction, according to WELT information. The faction will include 28 deputies from nine countries, with half of them from the AfD," reports Welt.

In addition to the AfD, the faction will include the following parties: Eric Zemmour's French "Reconquête," Poland's "Konfederacja," Bulgaria's "Vazrazhdane," Spain's Se Acabó La Fiesta party, the Czech "SPD," Slovakia's "Republika" party, Hungary's "Mi Hazánk Mozgalom," and Lithuania's "People and Justice Union."

The faction is expected to be officially formed on Wednesday evening.

Previously, another right-wing faction called "Patriots for Europe," founded among others by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was formed in the European Parliament. This faction has become the third largest in the European Parliament with 84 deputies.

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What's behind ambitious Russo-Chinese Moon station program?

Russia is pushing ahead with plans to install a nuclear power plant on the surface of the Moon for a joint Russo-Chinese lunar project.

Roscosmos General Director Yuri Borisov has flown to the People's Republic, where he is due to discuss with the endeavor with the Chinese space agency.

🔸 Roscosmos, Russia’s State Corporation for Space Activities, announced a joint scientific lunar station project with China in March 2023. In 2021 Moscow and Beijing signed an intergovernmental agreement on joint lunar exploration.

🔸 To ensure the uninterrupted functioning of the station, the sides decided to use nuclear energy. A lunar day lasts 27 Earth days, and for half of this time sunlight does not reach the surface of the Moon, maing solar panels unviable.

🔸 A nuclear reactor designed to power the international lunar station would be initially tested on Earth, Borisov told reporters in May.

🔸 Russia is planning to install the reactor on the Moon in the 2030s. The mission will be unmanned and automated, using robots to avoid radiation risks, according to Roscosmos.

🔸 "The lunar station's task… would be to conduct multidisciplinary, multi-purpose research work to study the Moon and to use it," Deputy General Director of Roscosmos Sergei Savelyev told the Federation Council Committee meeting in June.

🔸 On June 25, China's Chang'e-6 robotic lunar exploration lander returned to Earth with the first samples of Moon rock, marking the successful completion of its 53-day mission. The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program was founded in January 2004.

🔸 The Russian Moon Exploration Program dates back to the Soviet era. The Soviet Luna 16 was the first robotic mission that returned a sample of lunar soil to Earth in 1970. Despite the Russian Luna-25 entering to an unplanned orbit last year, Roscosmos' lunar exploration effort is developing full-throttle.

*The pic is AI-generated

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Peaceful nuclear power: Where’s Russia building facilities? Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Rosatom intends to build six more high-capacity nuclear units and small plants in India, in addition to the Kudankulam plant, as announced during Prime Minister Modi's Moscow visit.

Russia has exported nuclear energy since the 1960s, starting with the Rheinsberg plant in the GDR, and built plants in Bulgaria, Finland, and Hungary in the 1970s-1980s.

Rosatom now leads with 33 nuclear units under construction abroad, exporting nuclear fuel and providing uranium enrichment. In 2023, Rosatom's foreign orders were valued at $200 billion.

Where is Russia building nuclear power plants?

🇨🇳 China

◻️ Xudabao Nuclear Power Plant: Russia and China agreed in 2018 and 2019 to build the 3rd and 4th units in Liaoning Province. Construction began in 2021 and 2022, with operations set for 2027 and 2028, using VVER-1200 reactors.

◻️ Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant: Rosatom built four units for $3.3 billion. In 2018, Russia and China agreed to build the 7th and 8th units with VVER-1200 reactors. Construction started in 2021 and 2022, with the launch set for 2028.

🇭🇺 Hungary (Paks-2 Nuclear Power Plant)

The Hungarian Paks nuclear plant, constructed between 1983 and 1987 based on a Soviet design, currently consists of four VVER units. Through a Russian program implemented between 2005 and 2009, the plant's operational lifespan was extended to 2032—2037, with its capacity boosted to 2,000 MW. As a result, the Paks nuclear plant now generates approximately 50% of Hungary's electricity.

In 2014, Russia and Hungary reached an agreement to construct Paks-2, which would consist of the 5th and 6th units. A contract was signed in December of that year, detailing the construction of two VVER-1200 units at a cost of €12.5 billion. Russia agreed to provide a €10 billion loan for the project. Despite facing EU sanctions in 2022, Hungary is proceeding with the Paks-2 project with the goal of completing it by 2030.

👉 Part 2

👉 Part 3

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