In a historic joint intelligence service and police counterterrorism operation, a senior leader of the terrorist group Daesh and three others, all Syrian nationals, were captured in the western city of Izmir on Friday. The suspect, identified as Kasir al-Haddawi, was the group's "emir" for Syria's Deir el-Zour, while three others were influential figures in the group. The four men were detected among a group of Syrian immigrants who were planning to secretly travel to Europe. Izmir is among Turkish cities littoral to the Aegean Sea, a popular gateway for migrants to Greece.
Kasir al-Haddawi was among perpetrators of a massacre of civilians in al-Shaitat, a village controlled by the eponymous tribe, and he is also a close relative of Saddam al-Jamal, head of a rebel faction who switched to Daesh from the Free Syrian Army (FSA). Al-Jamal is an influential figure in the terrorist group and is viewed as a possible successor to the group's elusive leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Al-Haddawi was injured in clashes in Syria in the past, media outlets reported.
Senior Daesh terrorist Kassir al-Haddawi (second from the left) pictured with other terrorists in this undated photo
Separately, security forces detained 14 Daesh members in the southern city of Gaziantep on Friday. Suspects captured in this city bordering Syria are accused of social media propaganda for the group.
Embattled with counterterrorism operations in Syria and Iraq, Daesh sees its numbers further dwindling with heightened crackdowns in Turkey. In the past six months, security forces detained 5,402 suspects and arrested 902 in operations, while another 146 Daesh militants were "neutralized" in the same period in 838 operations across the country. Since November 2017, Turkey has also stopped 5,041 foreigners seeking to join Daesh by crossing into Syria and Iraq through Turkey and sent them back to their countries of origin. Security forces also foiled 10 attack plots. Figures show some 18,500 suspects were monitored for links to the terrorist group at airports upon their arrival.
Amid fears that Daesh militants who fled Syria could hit Europe and Turkey, authorities have heightened crackdowns on the terrorist group with almost daily operations.
The terrorist group started targeting Turkey in 2013, the year it was designated as a terrorist group, but it was in 2015 when it really made the headlines with multiple suicide bombings that killed over 100 people in a southeastern town and in the capital Ankara. More attacks followed the next year, including suicide bombings at an Istanbul airport and an attack on an outdoor wedding party in southern Gaziantep that killed 58 people.
Aiming to stop the Daesh threat from Syria, Turkey supported the FSA in a 2016 operation against Daesh-held towns in Syria. With Operation Euphrates Shield, Daesh lost control of towns it held in the north of the conflict-ridden country and was forced to withdraw from positions it held near the Turkish border.
Although Daesh lost many strongholds in Iraq and Syria, a controversial deal between Daesh militants and Syrian groups linked to the PKK, a major terrorist group that carries out attacks in Turkey, helped their evacuation from Raqqa, Syria. Turkey shares a lengthy border with Syria and struggles to keep itself safe from infiltration despite a giant border wall that is currently under construction.