No More Fauda in Turkiye
(UPDATE - EMERGENCY:
#SONDAKIKA
2 pm Istanbul {Mar 12} / 1 pm Damaskus {Mar 12} / 6 am DC {Mar 12} or at least 777 hours after tragedy earthquake.
Turkiye: number rocketing to 47,932 (include 6,265 foreigners). Please check table-excel (scroll down) to see time-by-time tally. This number including 2 (TWO) Indonesian citizens (died) in Karahmanmaras, 89 Palestinian in Turkiye, also 1 Australian (name: Suat Bayran), 7 Iraqis, and 375 Syrian in Turkiye.
Syria’s death toll stands at 5,951
5 days ago: 5,841 [1414 in government-held areas according to state-new agency SANA, and 4427 in rebel-held areas according to OCHA]).
Until 500 hours before data-reported by SANA - OCHA, Syria Human Right (SOHR) release figure of casualties is 3,874 = including 2,190 in rebel-held areas in the northwest, according to the White Helmets civil defense group. Another 1,678 deaths have been reported in government. Figures casualties for AANES (Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria also known as Rojava, de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria) areas is 6 died.
Death toll: 53,883 (from 47,932 + 5,951).
Over 53,000 died
"Surely, we belong to Allah and verily to Him do we return." (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un (Arabic: إِنَّا ِلِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ, ʾinnā li-llāhi wa-ʾinna ʾilayhi rājiʿūna)). Al Fatihah,
2x #DEPREM earthquake, both #Büyüklük 7.5 SR, 1.39 pm & 1.55 pm Istanbul.
68+ aftershocks earthquakes between 2 pm - 11 am Istanbul ( #Büyüklük 6 SR; 5.8 SR; 3.9 SR; 4.4 SR; 4.8 SR; 4.8 SR; 4.2 SR; 3.9 SR; 3.9 SR; 4.1 SR; 4.5 SR; 4.6 SR; 3.8 SR; 4.5 SR; 4.5 SR; 4.3 SR; 5.8 SR; 4.3 SR; 4.9 SR; 4.0 SR; 4.3 SR; 4.8 SR; 4.8 SR; 4.4 SR; 4.5 SR; 4.3 SR)
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first quake was centered about 20 miles from Gaziantep, Turkiye, when it struck at 4.17 am Istanbul or 3.17 am Damaskus (8.17 pm ET Sunday). Today Earthquake is strongest in Turkiye since 1939 (7.9 SR, quake hit Erzincan city —-— around 1,050 km from Istanbul, 30,000 died)
Snowing in Malatya Turkiye as rescue workers dig through the rubble. Runway in Hatay airport major damaged. Geologists Frank Hoogerbeets, around 71-74 hours before earthquake, predicted nearly precisely.
Fauda (Netflix, Israeli-Shin Bet commander Doron Kavillion-undercover Abu Fadi [portrayed by Lior Raz – Lior means light] spying in the heart of Palestinian) Season 4 will start January 20, 2023. My closest friend's birthday is on the same date. Fauda inspired and - got influenced by, each other to other series / movies with “same spying issue”: Prisoner of War; Homeland; and a lot of movies / series about spying.
But, no more Fauda in Turkiye (Turkey – now, official name is Turkiye) ground.
Turkish security authorities (Dec 15, 2022, 2 weeks before Christmas) reportedly arrested several people linked to an Istanbul consulting company allegedly involved in targeting Palestinian expats and organizations operating in Turkiye. As part of an operation launched earlier this week, 44 suspects had been identified as having ties to the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, Turkiye’s pro-government Sabah newspaper said. Seven have been jailed, others remain at large, and some are still being investigated by Turkiye’s counter-espionage unit.
The alleged campaign against Palestinian citizens, non-governmental organizations, and institutions based on Turkish soil is thought to have involved threats and damaging reputational remarks made via social media channels, as well as information about them being leaked to Mossad. Members of the network allegedly received thousands of dollars in exchange for their work, Sabah added.
The founder and president of the Private Detectives Association in Turkiye, Ismail Yetimoglu, was believed to have been among those arrested. He became a private detective in 2003 after 23 years working as a civil servant and opened his company in 2007.
In recent years, counter-espionage investigations have uncovered several networks operating in Turkish territories and working for Russia and Iran to kidnap and assassinate targets in Turkiye.
(Awkwardly) Israeli-made infrared lenses, along with over 200 other components from the US, Europe and other allied nations, have been found in Iranian drones used by Russia in its invasion of Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported in November 2022. Three-quarters of the components of the drones were American-made, according to Ukrainian documents shown to WSJ by the Kyiv-based nonprofit Independent Anti-Corruption Commission (NAKO).
Ukrainian investigators made the discovery while examining downed Iranian-made drones, including a Mohajer-6 which was hacked mid-flight and landed intact. Out of over 200 technical components in the captured Mohajer-6, about half were made by US-based firms and about a third were made by companies in Japan. The servomotors in the drone were made by Japan’s Tonegawa-Seiko Co. according to the report.
CNN develops investigations more deeply than WSJ. Day-4 of 2023, a single Iranian attack drone found to contain parts from more than a dozen US companies. The assessment, which was shared with US government officials late last year, illustrates the extent of the problem facing the Biden administration, which has vowed to shut down Iran’s production of drones that Russia is launching by the hundreds into Ukraine.
CNN reported that the White House has created an administration-wide task force to investigate how US and Western-made technology – ranging from smaller equipment like semiconductors and GPS modules to larger parts like engines – has ended up in Iranian drones.
Of the 52 components Ukrainians removed from the Iranian Shahed-136 drone, 40 appear to have been manufactured by 13 different American companies, according to the assessment.
The remaining 12 components were manufactured by companies in Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Taiwan, and China, according to the assessment.
In June 2022, members of an Iranian cell planning an attack on Israelis were caught in Turkiye as part of a joint operation by police and the National Intelligence Organization (MIT, Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı). They were said to have been monitoring Israelis after having travelled to Turkiye posing as business people, tourists, and students. However, they had been kept under Turkish surveillance.
In February 2022, MIT (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı) also uncovered another Iranian-led plot to kill an Israeli-Turkish businessperson using a network of hitmen. October 2021, Turkiye arrested 15 people suspected of providing Mossad with information on possible foreign students from Turkish universities suitable for recruitment to the defense industry.
The network of operatives working for Mossad consisted of five separate cells with three people in each. Turkish authorities have been scrutinizing Istanbul-based consulting firms for some time over claims some were being paid to spy on Palestinians and their non-governmental organizations.
Mossad has helped foil 12 plots to carry out terror attacks on Israelis in Turkey over the past 3-3.5 years. According to Israeli Channel 12, most of the attacks had been planned by the Islamic State terror group but some of the thwarted schemes were reported to be Iranian operations.It is not clear why Ankara suddenly became active in uncovering plots against Israel and networks working for Iranian intelligence. Turkey has recently signaled a desire to improve ties with Israel.
The report came a day after Turkish media announced the uncovering of an Iranian plot to assassinate Turkish-based Israeli businessman Yair Geller.
The Iranian spy cell was comprised of nine operatives, some Iranian and some Turkish, who planned to kill the Istanbul-based tycoon, who owns an engineering company specializing in aerospace and defense technology. The hit was planned as a retaliation for the killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was known as the "father of Iran's nuclear weapons program" and was assassinated outside Tehran on November 26, 2020, in an operation widely attributed to Mossad. Turkish media reported that the country’s intelligence had arrested 17 people allegedly linked to Iranian intelligence who were planning to kidnap an Iranian dissident.
Turkish intelligence (Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı) played with Mossad with disinformation for a year and a half. A rumor indicated that meeting between CIA Director Richard Burns with Russian counterparts in Ankara not only about (preventing) nuclear war, but also CIA negotiated trilateral with Russia and Turkiye to release Mossad agents, because Mossad arrested by MIT Turkiye have sensitive information about America. November 14, 2022, meeting in Ankara between Russian Foreign Intelligence chief Sergey Naryshkin and CIA Director William Burns was held at the US initiative, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told RTVi. The Russian and American intel bosses met at the headquarters of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT, Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı) in Ankara. The Turkish presidency’s Director of Communications, Fahrettin Altun, said after the talks that the officials had discussed threats to international security, including those related to the possible use of nuclear weapons. US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told Bloomberg earlier that the Naryshkin-Burns meeting was held to maintain security communication between the two countries.
Mossad has tried to recruit Palestinians living in Turkey through social media like Facebook and WhatsApp, presenting themselves as NATO officers or think tankers researching on Turkiye. Some targets immediately contacted the Turkish Intel.
Turkish intel began recording every conversation they had with the targets. Mossad made payments to failed recruits through mostly Western Union from Belgium, Germany, Italy etc. Sometimes they have sent more money through intermediaries like taxi drivers. The Mossad officers made some mistakes that raised suspicions among the recruits. One agent presented himself as a Saudi businessman but he later had a Facebook check in Tel Aviv. Or they misidentified themselves to same targets over time.
Turkish intel first began tracking the Western Union payments through the locations made in Europe to discover the wider network. Then they fed false information to Mossad by creating fake personas who are supposed to be close to Hamas. They even established a fake group.
Mossad used other assets to cross check the information on fake Palestinian personas, which allowed Turkish Intelligence to uncover a network of informants in Turkey and led to the arrest of a dozen people. Mossad also had a front NGO to approach people: El Sewak.
El Sewak was supposed to have an HQ in Brussels. Palestinians checked and it didn’t exist. Turkish intel eventually proved through IPs that the website is actually run in Tel Aviv. Mossad also hacked all phones belonging to potential recruits.
Mossad eventually wanted to thank one of its false Palestinian recruits by providing him a visa to Europe. The recruit directly went to the Swiss Consulate in Istanbul without getting any appointment and he was granted a business visa in half an hour. Turkish intel destroyed a network that the Israelis remotely had established. Not clear if Swiss gov’t involvement goes beyond a simple Mossad recruit probably issuing visas in the Istanbul consulate. Turkey doesn’t appear to be in fumes.
In 2017, Switzerland launched a criminal investigation into possible foreign spying on the country’s Turkish community, federal prosecutors. The Swiss foreign minister told his Turkish counterpart that Switzerland would “rigorously investigate” any illegal spying by Ankara on expatriate Turks before an April 16 referendum that could expand Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s powers.
Neutral Switzerland has been trying to avoid becoming entangled in a bitter dispute between Ankara and other European nations over campaigning by Turkish politicians to drum up support for Erdogan among Turks living abroad.
Turkiye’s president Erdogan has accused Germany and the Netherlands of behaving like Nazis for halting rallies by Turkish ministers, comments that both countries have called unacceptable.
The Swiss investigation follows alleged political intelligence gathering in which participants at events at the University of Zurich in late 2016 and early 2017 were filmed or photographed. One instance was in December 2016, where Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet’s chief editor was honored, Swiss media have reported. The second incident was in January during an academic forum on the massacre of Armenians in Turkey 100 years ago that Armenians consider genocide, a term Ankara rejects.
The university in Switzerland’s financial capital did not immediately return phone calls and emails seeking comment. The prosecutors’ statement cited a Swiss law that forbids intelligence gathering in the interest of a foreign state that harms Switzerland or its people. Punishments include up to three years in prison or fines.