Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) helped dismantle a Daesh cell preparing sabotage attacks in Damascus, with three suspects detained and a bomb-laden vehicle seized after intelligence shared with Syrian authorities led to a coordinated operation.

The operation followed intelligence work by MIT, which identified a Daesh-linked cell operating in the Syrian capital and passed the information to Syria’s Internal Security Service Command and General Intelligence Service.

Syrian intelligence units then monitored the suspects’ movements closely and identified their exact location before launching a raid. The operation resulted in the detention of three Daesh members – Omar Hashem, Muhammad Hammad and Hussein Khalef.

At the same time, bomb disposal teams intervened to neutralize a vehicle packed with explosives that had been prepared for remote detonation at a key location. Authorities said the vehicle contained large quantities of C4 and TNT capable of causing major destruction.

The detained suspects were transferred to the counterterrorism department of Syria’s General Intelligence Service for further interrogation and to help identify additional members or supporters linked to the cell.

Security sources said the raid prevented a planned attack believed to have been ordered after a recent Daesh audio message urging terrorists to prepare for operations.

At its peak in 2015, Daesh controlled a swath of territory across Iraq and Syria, half the size of the United Kingdom. It was notorious for its brutality against religious minorities, as well as Muslims who do not follow the terrorists’ ideology.

After years of fighting, the U.S.-led coalition broke the group’s last hold on territory in late 2019, but Daesh cells in multiple countries continue to carry out periodic attacks.