ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities ordered the arrest of 61 soldiers from the navy and land forces, including senior officers, for suspected links to a US-based cleric who Ankara says orchestrated a 2016 failed coup, state media said on Monday.
Eighteen of those ordered detained were on active duty, Anadolu news agency said, adding the suspects included 13 majors and 12 captains from the land forces and 24 first lieutenants from the navy.
Authorities have carried out regular sweeps against alleged members of cleric Fethullah Gulen’s network since the coup attempt of July 2016, in which 250 people were killed. Gulen denies involvement.
In a separate operation, Istanbul police said they detained 21 people who were using an encrypted messaging application used by the network. Most of those detained were teachers who formerly taught at the network’s schools or public institutions, police said.
Turkey’s Western allies have criticized the post-coup crackdown, which mostly took place under a state of emergency which was declared shortly after the attempted coup and remained in effect until July 2018.
President Tayyip Erdogan’s critics accuse him of using the failed putsch as a pretext to quash dissent. Turkey says the measures are necessary to combat threats to national security.
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Turkey orders 61 soldiers detained for suspected Gulen links — media
Turkey orders 61 soldiers detained for suspected Gulen links — media
Israel army says striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military announced a series of strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon on Friday, including weapons depots and a training complex.
“A number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, which were used by Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel,” a military statement said.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Israel has continued to strike in Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.
More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.
The strikes on Friday come a day after similar Israeli attacks near the Syrian border and in southern Lebanon left three people dead.
The Israeli military had reported on Thursday it had killed a member of arch-foe Iran’s elite Quds Force in a strike in Lebanon.
On Friday, the military said it had struck several military structures of Hezbollah, warning it would “remove any threat posed to the state of Israel.”
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting in the south of the country near the frontier.
Lebanon’s army plans to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel — by year’s end.
Israel has questioned the Lebanese military’s effectiveness and has accused Hezbollah of rearming, while the group itself has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
“A number of weapons storage facilities and terrorist infrastructure sites were struck, which were used by Hezbollah to advance terror attacks against the state of Israel,” a military statement said.
Despite a November 2024 ceasefire that was supposed to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group, Israel has continued to strike in Lebanon and has maintained troops in five areas it deems strategic.
More than 340 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire, according to an AFP tally of Lebanese health ministry reports.
The strikes on Friday come a day after similar Israeli attacks near the Syrian border and in southern Lebanon left three people dead.
The Israeli military had reported on Thursday it had killed a member of arch-foe Iran’s elite Quds Force in a strike in Lebanon.
On Friday, the military said it had struck several military structures of Hezbollah, warning it would “remove any threat posed to the state of Israel.”
Under heavy US pressure and fears of expanded Israeli strikes, Lebanon has committed to disarming Hezbollah, starting in the south of the country near the frontier.
Lebanon’s army plans to complete the disarmament south of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the border with Israel — by year’s end.
Israel has questioned the Lebanese military’s effectiveness and has accused Hezbollah of rearming, while the group itself has rejected calls to surrender its weapons.
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