ISIS leader attempts entering Istanbul illegally, detained by police
Bashar Hattab Ghazal Al-Sumaidai, an important senior executive of ISIS, has been detained by Turkish security forces.
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Turkish police forces arrest Bashar Hattab Ghazal Al-Sumaidai, an ISIS terrorist. (Getty Images)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that ISIS terrorist Bashar Hattab Ghazal Al-Sumaidai, whose alternative name is Abu Zeyd, has been captured by the Turkish security forces.
The terrorist, according to Erdogan, is "one of the most important senior executives of Daesh [ISIS] after [Abu Bakr Al-] Baghdadi and [Abdullah] Quardash." Baghdadi was killed in 2019 in Idlib, after which Quardash became the head of the organization.
In a joint operation orchestrated by the General Directorate of Security, the Istanbul Police Department, and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Al-Sumaidai was captured, as the governmental bodies and authorities tracked the terrorist's connections in Turkey and Syria, discovering that Al-Sumaidai planned to enter Turkey illegally using a fake ID. He was transferred to Turkish judicial authorities after being interrogated by the MIT and Istanbul police.
The terrorist confessed to working for ISIS' education and justice ministries, while international reports have identified Al-Sumaidai as the head of the judiciary of ISIS.
Possibly, he was appointed after Abu Ibrahim Al-Hashemi Al-Quraishi was killed, joining ISIS in 2013 after serving as a terrorist in Iraq.
Last month, in an act to mend relations with Damascus, Ankara called on the so-called "Syrian Opposition Coalition" to withdraw from Turkey.
Ultimately, the Coalition forces will have to migrate and relocate to another country and halt all political and media activities in Turkey.
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