The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they unfold.
Russian rights commissioner calls for swift release of Russians held by Hamas
Russia’s Human Rights Commissioner says she issued a fresh appeal to senior UN and other officials to take action to secure the release of Russian nationals still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Tatyana Moskalkova, writing on the Telegram messaging app, says she had launched the appeal after meeting in Moscow with relatives of those still being held.
“In one conversation, one of the mothers told me details of the situation of those being held,” she writes.
News reports have put at eight the number of hostages holding Russian passports, including three who were released.
Moskalkova said she had appealed to the UN High Commissioner For Human Rights, Volker Turk, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, and other officials “for the rapid return home of our compatriots.”
Two US men jailed for conspiracy to sell Iranian oil to China
Two Texas men convicted by a US jury in November of trying to sell Iranian petroleum in violation of sanctions imposed by Washington and of conspiracy to commit money laundering have been sentenced to 45 months in prison, the US Justice Department says.
Zhenyu Wang, 43, a Chinese citizen, and Daniel Ray Lane, 42, of McKinney, Texas, schemed with co-conspirators to evade US economic sanctions against Iran from July 2019 to February 2020 by facilitating the purchase of sanctioned oil from Iran, masking its origins and then selling it to a refinery in China, the department said in a statement.
Lane was president of privately held Stack Royalties, a Texas-based company that sells oil and gas mineral rights to investment funds and private equity groups.
Lane’s attorney, Paul Hetznecker, told Reuters late last year that the case was based on undercover government agents who offered Lane “millions of dollars in profits” if he took part in the scheme, after initially rebuffing their approaches. The attorney had called the case “an outrageous example of government overreach.”
The pair were charged, along with three others, in 2020 in US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. At least two co-conspirators have since pleaded guilty, court records showed.
China is the world’s only major importer of Iranian oil despite sanctions that former U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally reimposed on Tehran’s petroleum exports in 2018 after withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers.
US military says it destroyed 2 missile launchers in Houthi-held area of Yemen
The US military says that its forces destroyed two anti-ship cruise missile launchers in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen.
US Central Command says on the social media site X that the missile launchers “presented an imminent threat to US and coalition forces and to merchant vessels transiting the region.”
White House decries waving of ‘profane banners of terrorist organizations’ at New York anti-Israel protest
The White House denounces yesterday’s anti-Israel protest targeting a New York City exhibit memorializing the Nova music festival massacre, which including banners and chants hailing the October 7 terror onslaught along with the Hamas and Hezbollah terror organizations.
Calling the conduct of the far-left protesters “outrageous and heartbreaking,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates says in a statement, adding that “profane banners of terrorist organizations should not be flown anywhere, especially not on American streets.”
“Antisemitism has no place in the United States,” he says, calling the protesters’ behavior “horrifying.”
Hezbollah confirms death of senior commander in Israeli airstrike in south Lebanon
The Hezbollah terror group announces the death of a senior commander in an alleged Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon earlier tonight.
Hezbollah in a statement says Taleb Abdullah, from the south Lebanon town of Aadachit, was killed “on the road to Jerusalem,” the terror group’s term for Israeli strikes.
Abdullah was killed in a strike in the town of Jouaiyya.
Hezbollah refers to Abdullah as a commander.
The terror group rarely refers to its senior operatives slain in Israeli strikes as commanders. The only other operative referred to as a commander was Wissam al-Tawil, the deputy head of the terror group’s elite Radwan force, killed by Israel in January.
According to reports, Abdullah commanded a Hezbollah regional division in southern Lebanon.
The Hezbollah terror group announces the death of a senior commander in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon earlier tonight.
Hezbollah in a statement says Taleb Abdullah, from the south Lebanon town of Aadachit, was killed "on the road to Jerusalem," the terror group's term… https://t.co/FUQUrVhS2I pic.twitter.com/QNR5dn7FW5
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 11, 2024
Pentagon chief commends Gallant for hostage rescue, says onus is on Hamas to accept truce deal
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant today to congratulate him on the rescue of four hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, according to a readout from Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder.
The two also discussed efforts to “de-escalate tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border in the wake of Lebanese Hezbollah’s increased aggression,” the statement adds.
Lloyd thanked Gallant for “Israel’s support for the comprehensive ceasefire and hostage deal,” according to the readout, and the two agreed that “the onus is on Hamas to accept the deal.”
The statement comes hours after Hamas submitted its response to Israel’s latest hostage release and ceasefire offer to Egyptian and Qatari mediators.