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On May 28, 2023, four people drowned on Lake Maggiore south of the Swiss Alps. One was a former Mossad agent, two were Italian intelligence officers and the fourth victim was a Russian woman. They were among 23 people aboard the small boat. bbc.com/news/world-eur…
"An Israeli man, 50-year-old Simoni Erez, also died. He was a retired Mossad agent." 
"“The Mossad lost a dear friend, a devoted and professional worker who for decades dedicated his life to the security of the State of Israel, even after his retirement,” it said." aa.com.tr/en/middle-east…
"Ten other Israelis were reportedly on the cruise and were said to have been quickly flown back to Israel on a private jet known to be used by Israeli authorities. Flight tracking sites showed the plane set off from Tel Aviv on Monday morning, arrived at Milan airport and...
soon set off back to Ben Gurion Airport. They reportedly did not wait to return the rented cars they were using during their trip." timesofisrael.com/israel-retired…
The Wall Street Journal reported that the Israeli Mossad officer who drowned in Italy, Erez Shimoni, had been responsible for the special Mossad unit of secret contacts with foreign intelligence services. ynetnews.com/article/h1nwau…
A private jet used for official sensitive flights left Israel and landed in Milan to recover the survivors. "It is possible that the occasion was a celebration on the boat, but it cannot be excluded that there may have been other types of meetings before," a source told Ansa.
Autopsies on Anya Bozhkova, Tiziana Barnobi, Claudio Alonzi and Erez Shimoni will not be carried out. The coroner ascertained that they died of drowning and did not show any signs of injury. The Public Prosecutor's Office decided not to carry out further investigations.
Among the victims were Claudius Alonzi (62) marshal of Alatri (Frosinone). The non-commissioned officer died together with his colleague Tiziana Barnobi (53), both employees of the “Intelligence Department”. news.italy24.press/trends/589088.…
The dead Russian was named as Anya Bozhkova, 50, wife of Claudio Carminati, the Italian skipper of the boat. Italy 24's search yielded no results by entering Carminati’s name in the cadastral data network, either in Italy or abroad. He spoke French and Bulgarian.
Victim, Anya Bozhkova, posted this on her Facebook page in March, complaining about YouTube deleting certain channels. "There is a war going on, whose goal is the final destruction of Russia and the Russian people," she re-posted.
The Guardian: "The incident comes just two months after prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, visited Rome to boost ties with the far-right Meloni administration – the two countries already trade in military hardware."
"It's not unusual for ‘retired’ Israeli agents to be called up, and with reports that all of the passengers aboard the boat were intelligence agents, there was speculation in Israel about whether the trip was truly for leisure or possibly part of a low-profile work trip."
One unofficial version: no trip to the lake was planned, then, after meetings in Lombardy to exchange information and documents, the Israelis missed the return plane and decided to extend the layover covering the entire weekend until departure for Israel scheduled for Mon 29 May.
"It is unknown whether on the Italian or foreign side, someone proposed the journey on the water." news.italy24.press/news/588740.ht…
Israel's relations with Moscow have been sharply deteriorating since May, when Russian FM Sergei Lavrov said in an interview on Italian TV programme Zona Bianca that Hitler "had Jewish blood". The Israeli foreign ministry summoned the Russian ambassador and demanded an apology.
"Italian police investigating the incident confirmed that 13 of the passengers had ties with Mossad and 8 were either members of Israeli intelligence or former members. The police investigation is directly geared towards Claudio Carminati's role in the incident."
"Israeli media suggested that the former Israeli intelligence officer became friends with the Italians through work."
english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/…
english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/…
🔥 Israeli Channel 12 says retired Mossad agent Erez Shimoni was part of an operation targeting "Iranian non-conventional weapons capabilities." english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/…
"Although Italian sources have named the dead Israeli spy as Shimoni, that has turned out not to be his real identity. At his funeral in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon on Wednesday, he was referred to only by the initial “M”."
"Many Mossad employees who attended the funeral hid their faces behind surgical masks at the cemetery as Mossad chief Dedi Barnea praised the man."
"Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera reported on Thursday June 1 that the area around Lake Maggiore is populated by Russian oligarchs close to the Kremlin, who are involved in alleged supply of Iranian-made unmanned aerial aircraft to Moscow." presstv.ir/Detail/2023/06…
By December 2022, Iran supplied Russia with more than 1700 drones capable of suicide bombings, surveillance and intelligence, and combat. Russia has expended most of these UAVs, using them to target Ukrainian critical infrastructure inside Ukraine.
"By providing Russia with UAVs, Iran has been directly enabling Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. He added that the Russians are looking at acquiring drones “capable of more lethality”. pbs.org/newshour/world…
"Last August [2022], US officials said that Iran had begun showcasing the Shahed 191 and 129 drones in June to Russia, and said they expected Tehran to sell them to Moscow." theguardian.com/world/2023/feb…
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