Over 10 detained in anti-radical terror op

ISTANBUL

Some 11 suspects with links to radical terror organizations, such as al-Qaeda, ISIL and Tahrir al-Sham, have been nabbed in simultaneous operations held in Istanbul’s seven districts.

According to Demirören News Agency, the operations were held during the early hours of Dec. 20.

“The suspects had and still have contacts with the people involved with the mentioned groups active abroad,” sources said on the condition of anonymity.

The sources indicated that all the detainees were foreign nationals, not Turkish citizens.

Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), commonly referred to as Tahrir al-Sham, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organization involved in the Syrian Civil War. It was formed on Jan. 28, 2017, as a merger between Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (formerly al-Nusra Front), the Ansar al-Din Front, Jaysh al-Sunna, Liwa al-Haqq, and the Nour al-Din al-Zenki Movement.
The group had an estimated 6,000 to 15,000 members in 2022.