Turkey cracks down on Islamic State, arrests 39 suspects
Turkish authorities have detained 39 suspected Islamic State members in a series of national raids targeting the group’s financial operations, Al-Monitor via Anadolu Agency reported on June 16th.
The suspects were apprehended in coordinated raids across 18 provinces during the last fortnight, such as Istanbul, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said in a post on X: “It was established that the suspects were members of the ISIS terrorist organization, provided financial support to so-called aid organizations affiliated with the group and carried out terrorist propaganda via their social media accounts.”
Yerlikaya added that authorities had seized a big quantity of organisational documents and digital files in the raids. He did not clarify whether the detainees were Turkish or foreign nationals.
Three suspects arrested in Istanbul allegedly assisted ISIS members in war zones in Syria and inside Turkey, gathered funds to stop defections, and helped to convert cryptocurrency sent to the group from overseas, according to Anadolu Agency.
The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office has also handed out arrest warrants for five additional individuals. Two are believed to be abroad, while three remain at large, Anadolu reported.
The operation follows Ankara’s increasing efforts to target ISIS as part of a wider bid to consolidate the Syrian government’s control.
last month, Turkey, Jordan, and Syria founded a joint operation centre in Damascus to organise anti-ISIS efforts. The initiative came after US President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on May 14th, where he urged for stronger cooperation against the group.
Despite the fact that ISIS lost its territorial holdings in 2019, the group maintains an estimated 7,000 members in Syria and Iraq, roughly half of whom are purportedly active fighters, European Union data from last year states.
The Kurdish-run Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) continue to serve as the Pentagon’s main ally against ISIS in Syria. However, Ankara’s campaign also seeks to weaken ties between the SDF and the US.
Over 20 sources, including security and political officials, believe that ISIS has been trying to execute a comeback following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Reuters reported on June 12th.
The Islamic state has allegedly began to revive fighters in Syria and Iraq and accelerate recruitment as well as propaganda.
Al-Monitor via Anadolu Agency, Reuters, Maghrebi.org
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