Serbian media outlet "Novosti.rs" has published an article claiming without facts that the Kosovo Police is preparing an operation in the north with special forces.
According to this medium, the Kosovo Police is standing at the Belvedere special police base with around 100 armed members on standby, and three special police vehicles are standing ready while another unit has been sent from Pristina.
During the fact-check conducted by hibrid.info, the claim made by this Serbian media outlet turned out to be unsubstantiated.
Also, the photograph used in this article does not represent the claim, so it is not current, but belongs to the events of September of this year, when the Kosovo Police went to protect the border police at the Jarinje and Brnjak points in the north, after the Kosovo Government's decision to ban the entry of vehicles with Serbian license plates.
Parts of the article published by Novosti.rs translated into Albanian:
Members of the Rosu special unit have been on standby in the southern part of Mitrovica since this morning.
According to information available, they are located at the Belvedere base, where approximately 100 armed special forces are stationed, ready for action.
According to operational information, of the deployed units, one of them was also sent from Pristina, fully armed.
So far, there is no detailed information, but there were such deployments of Rosu units during the attack in the north on October 13 of this year.
Link to the article published by "Novosti.rs":
Following this article published by the Serbian media, the Kosovo Police reacted, with the spokesperson for this institution, Baki Kelani, denying such claims by the Serbian media to Express, calling them untrue and tending to misinform public opinion.
"Referring to the articles and publications made today, 10/12/2021, by several mainly Serbian media outlets, that allegedly special units of the Kosovo Police have been reinforced in the south of Mitrovica and are preparing to enter the north of Mitrovica, we inform you that such information and articles are untrue and are intended to misinform public opinion. The Kosovo Police is a law enforcement institution and on a daily basis carries out routine police activities and work", Kelani stated.
Link to Kelani's statement given to "GazetaExpress.com":
Kelani: Reports that the Special Unit has gathered to intervene in the north are false
Hibrid.info has managed to identify the photograph that was used to illustrate this news. In the research done through online checkers, it was found that this photograph was taken by the “Associated Press” News Agency, during the September events in northern Kosovo. (See here, here)
Analyze:
Serbian media outlet "Novosti.rs" published this article with fabricated content, through which they attempted to raise a false claim.
The claim made in the headline that special forces actions are being prepared in northern Kosovo is not supported by any facts, so it turns out to be completely fabricated.
Based on this fact check, this article turns out to be completely fabricated and, as a result, it is considered "fake news".
Reasoning:
The "Fake News" rating is given to media reports that are entirely the product of a medium that itself contains factually incorrect claims or information.
Content that is considered fake news can be reliably determined to have been created and distributed with the intent to misinform the public, i.e., to present a claim that is completely false as fact.