Days after Israeli security services warned of an Iranian attack on Israeli nationals in Turkey, the Iranian terror squads were still on the look out for Israelis, news reports on Sunday suggest.
Despite an ongoing security operation to catch the Iranians, the death squads were still on the loose and on the lookout for Israeli tourists in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Israeli officials warn that terror squads “made up of Iranians as well as Turkish recruits” were out “to kill Israelis at all costs,” the Israeli broadcaster Ynet News reported Sunday.
On Thursday, Israeli defense officials warned of an “imminent” Iranian attack on their nationals in Turkey. Following the warning, the Israel’s Foreign Ministry told its Israelis “not to fly to Istanbul” and if they were “already in Istanbul, return to Israel as soon as possible.”
The Iranian terror operatives were reportedly in the final stages of planning. Israeli officials “warn of an attempt by an Iranian cell to infiltrate an Istanbul hotel in which Israelis are staying in order to kidnap or kill them, and warns Israelis not to open their hotel doors to unfamiliar people,” Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Friday.
The Ynet News reported the ongoing security operation in Turkey:
Over the weekend, security forces actively attempted to protect Israelis. According one official, the Iranians consider every citizens holding an Israeli passport as a target, including Arab citizens of Israel.”I’m calling on all Israelis currently in Turkey to adhere to the security guidelines,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz said on Saturday. “Israel is working to foil the Iranians’ attempts to carry out attacks and is preparing to respond with force in the face of any threat to Israeli citizens everywhere.”Israel on Thursday issued new recommendation to Israelis who were still in Istanbul, telling them to remain behind locked doors in their hotels and refuse to open, even for room service, hotel maintenance or deliveries.”Nothing is over yet,” said the officials. “The event is not behind us, we’re in the midst of it. We’re working very hard with our Turkish partners because there are still Israelis in Istanbul. We are in communications with Turkish security. They are cooperating with us in an outstanding way,” the official said.
Most Israelis have since left the Turkish capital, but many are still stranded in hotels and accommodations scattered across the city. “An estimated 2,000 Israelis are believed to be visiting [Istanbul], down from 5,000 earlier in the week,” the Jerusalem Post reported Friday.
Last week’s terror alert is one of the most serious to be issued to Israelis traveling abroad in recent years. An official who spoke to the Israeli TV network Channel 12 cautioned that “being in Istanbul right now [for an Israeli] is akin to playing Russian roulette, tempting fate. If we could publicize the full operational picture, [Israelis] would be fleeing as they would a fire.”
Turkey is not the only country where Israeli tourists are in Iranian crosshairs. Earlier this month, “Israeli authorities announced that they had thwarted an attack on Israelis in Thailand,” the TV channel i24News reported June 12. “It was reported that Israel was considering issuing travel warnings for additional countries due to concerns Iran may seek to attack traveling Israelis,” the news network added.
The terror warning comes after several senior operatives of Iran’s Islamic Guard (IRGC) and scientists linked to the regime’s ballistic missile program were reported killed in apparent targeted killings. The IRGC, a U.S. designated terrorist organization, spearheads Iran’s WMD program as the regime’s gets closer to acquiring a nuclear bomb.
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