Turkey: More than 250 Detained over Alleged Terror Links

Turkish policemen in Istanbul. Reuters file photo
Turkish policemen in Istanbul. Reuters file photo
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Turkey: More than 250 Detained over Alleged Terror Links

Turkish policemen in Istanbul. Reuters file photo
Turkish policemen in Istanbul. Reuters file photo

Turkish authorities have detained 267 suspects, 161 of them foreign nationals, for their alleged links to terrorist organizations, state news agency Anadolu reported on Saturday.

Police believe the suspected extremists had been plotting attacks for New Year's Eve, the report said without elaborating.

The suspects were detained during raids in 33 cities and provinces between December 20 and 31, Anadolu said, citing a statement from the Interior Ministry.

The nationalities of the foreign detainees have not been made public.

Separately, Turkey's immigration authority was holding 69 foreign nationals over their "links to conflict zones," the report added, according to the German Press Agency.

Police are said to have seized pistols, explosive materials and digital documents linked to terrorist groups in raids against those 69 people.



Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
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Israel Launches Communications Satellite from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft lifts off at Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center before the launch of Axiom Space Axiom Mission on June 25, 2025, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/Getty Images/AFP

Israel on Sunday said it had launched a new national communications satellite on board a SpaceX rocket from the United States.

The Dror 1 satellite was blasted into orbit on a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and the foreign ministry said.

"This $200 million 'smartphone in space' will power Israel's strategic and civilian communications for 15 years," the ministry wrote on X.

Accompanying video footage showed the reusable, two-stage rocket lift off into the night sky. SpaceX said the launch happened at 1:04 am in Florida (0504 GMT Sunday).

IAI, which called the launch "a historic leap for Israeli space technology", said when it announced the project to develop and build Dror 1 that it was "the most advanced communication satellite ever built in Israel".

In September 2016, an unmanned Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a test in Florida, destroying Israel's Amos-6 communications satellite, which was estimated to have cost between $200 and 300 million.