MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. Moscow does not believe that the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) has the wherewithal to intervene in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the side of the Hamas movement, Russian Special Presidential Representative for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Monday.
A number of international media outlets reported earlier that the Taliban was likely to side with Hamas in the most recent flare-up of tensions in the long-simmering Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
When asked about such reports, Kabulov, who also serves as director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Second Asian Department, replied, "Absolutely not," adding that the false information resulted from "an emotional outburst."
"The Taliban clearly sympathizes with the Palestinians for obvious reasons. But everything that I saw and read in the media is nonsense and fake," the Russian envoy said.
Israel came under missile attack from the Gaza Strip on the morning of October 7. Simultaneously, several groups of Palestinian militants from the Hamas movement infiltrated the Jewish state, engaging in fighting with Israeli forces.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) declared a state of readiness for war and launched retaliatory actions dubbed Operation Iron Swords. Hamas Politburo Head Ismail Haniyeh described the Palestinian operation as a response to aggressive actions by the Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant authorized the call-up of IDF reservists and ordered that "the special security situation" be expanded nationwide. According to the latest data, some 500 Palestinians have been killed since the fresh outbreak of violence, while over 2,700 sustained wounds. In Israel, more than 700 people have lost their lives and over 2,200 have been wounded.