From September 26th to September 29th, 2023, an inter-agency international counter-terrorism exercise called FOX 23 took place. The exercise involved more than 170 soldiers, including those from the 5th Special Forces Regiment (5th SFR), the 51st Helicopter Wing in Prešov, the Emergency Police Unit in Žilina, the Mountain Rescue Service - Regional Center Malá Fatra, and a unit of Polish Special Forces (Jednostka Wojskowa Komandosów). The exercise was conducted in the vicinity of Chata pod Suchým in the Malá Fatra region.
     During the exercise, one of the captured civilians, held hostage in the cabin under the supervision of terrorists, managed to call the emergency line 158. A police patrol confirmed the seriousness of the incident and shortly thereafter, an alert was issued for the Žilina Emergency Police Unit, which dispatched negotiators to the scene. Later, they were reinforced by the 5th SFR, which was conducting training tasks with the Polish Special Forces unit at the time. Both units were involved in resolving the situation. Given the location of the cabin in a high-mountain environment, professional Mountain Rescue Service personnel also contributed to accomplishing the mission.
     The goal of the exercise was to practice planning and conducting special operations at the tactical level in mountain and high-mountain environments, with the primary task being to assess the training level of all participants. Participants exchanged experiences in their respective specialized areas and aimed to coordinate their joint activities in intervention scenarios.

Video of the activity: https://youtu.be/_uZMQ8uyu68?si=kUvxB0iQGz3t-Rua