The National Intelligence Organization (MIT) captured a Daesh terrorist leading a "battalion" in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, who was planning an attack against Turkish forces in the Operation Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch zones, sources said on Monday.
The terrorist named Abdullah al-Jundi, codenamed "Hattab El Muhacir," who was responsible for a Daesh "battalion" was nabbed in Aleppo, in an operation conducted by MIT in collaboration with Syrian National Army (SNA) forces.
According to information received from security sources, MIT determined that he was involved in planning attacks on vehicles belonging to Turkish security forces in Syria.
With intelligence support provided by MIT, local security forces affiliated with the SNA conducted an operation in the northern Syrian town of al-Bab within the Operation Euphrates Shield area.
In his testimony, the terrorist mentioned that Daesh militants conducted reconnaissance activities from time to time for this purpose. He also provided information about the members of the organization ready to carry out operations within his "battalion."
As a result of the operation, Daesh's action plans were uncovered, thwarting the terror group's activities. Numerous digital materials belonging to the organization were seized in the course of the operation.
Daesh remains the second biggest threat of terrorism for Türkiye which is facing security risks from multiple terrorist groups.
In 2013, Türkiye became one of the first countries to declare Daesh a terrorist group. The country has since been attacked by the terrorist group multiple times, with over 300 people killed and hundreds more injured in at least 10 suicide bombings, seven bomb attacks, and four armed attacks. In response, Türkiye launched anti-terror operations at home and abroad to prevent further attacks.
Terrorists from Daesh and other groups such as the PKK and its Syrian wing, the YPG, rely on a network of members and supporters in Türkiye. In response, Ankara has been intensifying its crackdown on the terrorists and their links at home, conducting pinpoint operations and freezing assets to eliminate the terrorist groups at their roots.
Since its formal defeat in Iraq in 2017 and significant loss of territory in Syria since 2015, Daesh fighters have been leading their operations underground besides losing their leaders to military operations. The group’s last three leaders, all Iraqis, were killed in Syria in recent years outside areas it once purported to rule.
