Turkish Police Detain 10 Accused of ISIS Links, Minister Says

Turkish police detained 10 people believed to be linked to ISIS. (Getty Images/AFP)
Turkish police detained 10 people believed to be linked to ISIS. (Getty Images/AFP)
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Turkish Police Detain 10 Accused of ISIS Links, Minister Says

Turkish police detained 10 people believed to be linked to ISIS. (Getty Images/AFP)
Turkish police detained 10 people believed to be linked to ISIS. (Getty Images/AFP)

Turkish police detained 10 people believed to be linked to ISIS and have arrested five of them, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Friday.

Yerlikaya said Türkiye’s MIT intelligence agency, police, and counter-terrorism squads carried out an operation in the western coastal city of Izmir after intelligence showed the suspects had hidden supplies in the city.

The authorities discovered explosive gels, materials used to make explosives, as well as weapons and ammunition hidden in the mountainous region of Izmir's Bornova district, Yerlikaya added.

"As a result of the operation, 10 suspects were detained. Of these, five were arrested and judicial control rulings were made for five others," the minister said on social media platform X.

Under judicial control rulings, the suspects may leave police detention but they have certain conditions and oversights imposed on them.

Footage from the operation, shared by Yerlikaya on X, showed several police cars in a mountainous area, with police searching inside of a small cave for the hidden materials. It also showed authorities searching a house and detaining the suspects. Reuters could not independently verify the footage.

ISIS has conducted numerous attacks across Türkiye, including on a nightclub in Istanbul on Jan. 1, 2017, in which 39 people were killed. Turkish police have carried out several operations targeting the militants.



Israeli Government Orders Public Entities to Stop Advertising in Haaretz Newspaper

A woman reads the 13 February issue of the Haaretz daily newspaper in Jerusalem (AFP)
A woman reads the 13 February issue of the Haaretz daily newspaper in Jerusalem (AFP)
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Israeli Government Orders Public Entities to Stop Advertising in Haaretz Newspaper

A woman reads the 13 February issue of the Haaretz daily newspaper in Jerusalem (AFP)
A woman reads the 13 February issue of the Haaretz daily newspaper in Jerusalem (AFP)

The Israeli government has ordered all public entities to stop advertising in the Haaretz newspaper, which is known for its critical coverage of Israel’s actions in the Palestinian territories.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said Sunday that the government had approved his proposal after Haaretz’ publisher called for sanctions against Israel and referred to Palestinian militants as “freedom fighters.”
“We advocate for a free press and freedom of expression, but also the freedom of the government to decide not to fund incitement against the State of Israel,” Karhi wrote on the social platform X.
Noa Landau, the deputy editor of Haaretz, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “working to silence independent and critical media,” comparing him to autocratic leaders in other countries.
Haaretz regularly publishes investigative journalism and opinion columns critical of Israel’s ongoing half-century occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state.
It has also been critical of Israel’s war conduct in Gaza at a time when most local media support the war and largely ignore the suffering of Palestinian civilians.
In a speech in London last month, Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken said Israel has imposed “a cruel apartheid regime” on the Palestinians and was battling “Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls ‘terrorists.’”
He later issued a statement, saying he had reconsidered his remarks.
“For the record, Hamas are not freedom fighters,” he posted on X. “I should have said: using terrorism is illegitimate. I was wrong not to say that.”