Turkish and Syrian intelligence agencies carried out a joint special operation to detain one of the leaders of the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia) in eastern Turkey.
The Sabah newspaper reported on Wednesday that the operation involved security forces from the Gaziantep Gendarmerie Command and members of the Syrian operational forces.
The detained criminal's name is Ramo Mohammed al-Hamed. According to Sabah, he is known in terrorist circles as Rami Remo. The Turkish newspaper notes that he had previously been released by Syrian Kurdish formations in the province of Al-Hasakah in Syria on the condition that he would go to Jarabulus to organize a terrorist attack there.
Turkish officials have previously stated that channels of communication of intelligence services between the two countries continue to function despite the lack of an official dialogue between Ankara and Damascus. However, this is the first report of a joint anti-terrorist special operation in recent years.
Following talks between Turkish and Russian Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin in Sochi on August 5, Turkish media reported that Ankara was discussing the possibility of direct contacts between the Turkish and Syrian leaders. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in this connection that talks between Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad are not planned and that contacts between Turkey and Syria are currently being maintained through the special services. For his part, the Turkish leader said that Ankara does not aim to overthrow al-Assad, and is in favor of Syria's territorial integrity and prefers diplomacy to solve existing problems.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Master Sgt. Christopher DeWitt/Creative Commons 2.0
Based on materials from TASS