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Syria
The chief of Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi purportedly appeared on video on April 30, 2019 for the first time in five years in this undated tv grab. File photo: AFP / al-Furqan media
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – A senior Turkish official announced early Tuesday the arrest of the sister of recently slain Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a raid in northwest Syria. The Turkish presidency’s communications director has since confirmed the news.
Rasmiya Awad, 65, was detained by Turkish forces alongside her husband, daughter-in-law and five children, the unnamed senior Turkish official told Reuters. The raid took place in the town of Azaz, a town controlled by Turkey and its Syrian proxies.
Awad’s husband and daughter-in-law are under interrogation, added the official.
“We hope to gather a trove of intelligence from Baghdadi’s sister on the inner workings of ISIS,” the official said.
An unnamed senior Turkish official told AP that she was captured on a trailer container, describing the raid as “gold mine.”
“This kind of thing is an intelligence gold mine. What she knows about (IS) can significantly expand our understanding of the group and help us catch more bad guys,” the official said.
Baghdadi was killed in a raid by US special forces in the nearby province of Idlib, US President Donald Trump announced on October 27. The operation was carried out with intelligence assistance from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Fahrettin Altun, director of Turkish Presidency’s communications, confirmed Monday's raid in a tweet, calling it “yet another example of the success of our counter-terrorism operations.”
Turkey has been accused of support for ISIS - which took control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territories in summer 2014 - but Altun said the raid proves their “cooperation with like-minded partners” in the fight against terrorism.
Rasmiya Awad, 65, was detained by Turkish forces alongside her husband, daughter-in-law and five children, the unnamed senior Turkish official told Reuters. The raid took place in the town of Azaz, a town controlled by Turkey and its Syrian proxies.
Awad’s husband and daughter-in-law are under interrogation, added the official.
“We hope to gather a trove of intelligence from Baghdadi’s sister on the inner workings of ISIS,” the official said.
An unnamed senior Turkish official told AP that she was captured on a trailer container, describing the raid as “gold mine.”
“This kind of thing is an intelligence gold mine. What she knows about (IS) can significantly expand our understanding of the group and help us catch more bad guys,” the official said.
Baghdadi was killed in a raid by US special forces in the nearby province of Idlib, US President Donald Trump announced on October 27. The operation was carried out with intelligence assistance from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Fahrettin Altun, director of Turkish Presidency’s communications, confirmed Monday's raid in a tweet, calling it “yet another example of the success of our counter-terrorism operations.”
Turkey has been accused of support for ISIS - which took control of swathes of Syrian and Iraqi territories in summer 2014 - but Altun said the raid proves their “cooperation with like-minded partners” in the fight against terrorism.
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