Kremlin: Dagestan Airport Violence Result of ‘Outside Influence’ 

This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)
This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)
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Kremlin: Dagestan Airport Violence Result of ‘Outside Influence’ 

This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)
This video grab taken from footage released by the Press service of the Head of Dagestan on October 30, 2023 shows Head of Dagestan Sergei Melikov (2ndR) visiting the airport in Makhachkala. (Photo by Handout / Press service of the Head of Dagestan / AFP)

The Kremlin said on Monday that the storming of an airport in the capital of the southern Russian region of Dagestan by an anti-Israeli mob on Sunday was the result of "outside influence".

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "It is well known and obvious that yesterday's events around Makhachkala airport are largely the result of outside interference, including information influence."

Peskov said that "ill-wishers" had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir people up in the region in the north Caucasus. He did not specify who the Kremlin believed had engineered the violence, or why.

Russia's interior ministry said on Monday that 60 people had been arrested after hundreds of anti-Israel protesters stormed the airport in Makhachkala on Sunday, shortly after a plane from Israel arrived.



Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
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Florida Man Shot Israeli Visitors Thinking They Were Palestinians, Police Say

 Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)
Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza mark 500 days of their captivity by spreading a massive Israeli flag depicting an hourglass in the Mediterranean Sea, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025. Hebrew of the flag reads "Without the abductees, Israel runs out". (AP)

A Florida man was arrested and charged with two counts of attempted murder after shooting at a vehicle with two men who he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, local authorities and media reports said.

The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged with two counts of attempted murder and booked on Sunday for the shooting on Saturday.

A police official confirmed earlier reports from local media that Brafman said in an interview with police that while he was driving his truck in Miami Beach, he saw two people he thought were Palestinian. He stopped, shot at and killed them.

However, the victims survived. One was shot in the shoulder and the other had a wounded forearm. They turned out to be Israeli visitors and not Palestinians, police said.

A representative or lawyer for Brafman could not be immediately identified by Reuters.

Human rights advocates say there has been a rise in anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian and antisemitic hate in the United States since the start of US ally Israel's war in Gaza following an Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Palestinian group Hamas.