Dozens of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi's inner circle have been arrested as they tried to enter Turkey, the country's president said on Thursday, just a day after The National revealed that the brother of the world's most wanted man made multiple trips to Istanbul.
Although President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not address the latest revelations specifically, it was his second attempt in as many days to push back on the numerous claims that Turkey had failed to act on ISIS sleeper cells and couriers operating in their territory.
Turkey is also facing criticism for a cross-border offensive to drive Syria’s Kurdish fighters from the northeast in an operation that has raised concerns that ISIS could use the chaos to stage a return.
“All of Al Baghdadi’s inner circle is mostly targeting our country and these people are looking for ways to settle in our country or to come to our country,” Mr Erdogan told reporters on Thursday. But, the Turkish president said, the number of people with family ties to Baghdadi who have been caught by Turkey “is close to reaching double digits.”
On Wednesday, The National revealed that one of Baghdadi's brothers, identified by security officials as Juma, acted as the terror chief's most trusted couriers. He transported plans and communiques from field commanders via Istanbul to the hideout in Idlib used by the ISIS head until he was killed last month.
Baghdadi blew himself up during an October 26 raid by US Special Forces on his heavily fortified safe house in the Syrian province of Idlib.
The raid was a major blow to his extremist group, which has lost territories it held in Syria and Iraq in a series of military defeats by the US-led coalition and Syrian and Iraqi allies.
Juma made the 2,300 kilometres round trip across the Nato member state numerous times to meet contacts in Istanbul but was watched by Iraqi intelligence who hoped he would lead them back to Baghdadi.
However, when Juma crossed the Turkish border into Syria, the trail went cold.
We now know that as spies were looking for him to make his way to eastern Syria where ISIS made its last stand around Baghouz in Deir Ezzor, Juma instead travelled the 5-7 kilometres to Baghdadi’s hideout near the Turkish border in Idlib province.
“We were watching somebody who was acting as a messenger to Al Baghdadi and he was travelling frequently to Turkey and back,” a senior Iraqi intelligence official said. “He was Al Baghdadi’s brother.”
Mr Erdogan made no comment on the revelations made by The National, nor did he offer an indication why Juma was able to make multiple trips between Idlib and Istanbul while other members of Baghdadi's family who are not likely to have held the same high-level information as terror head's most trusted courier were detained.
Mr Erdogan’s speech comes just days after Turkish forces arrested Baghdadi’s elder sisters, Rasmiya Awad, her husband, daughter-in-law and five children in the town of Azaz, in Aleppo province. Turkish officials have also said they detained Asma Fawzi Muhammad Al Qubaysi, one of Baghdadi's wives, and a daughter last year.
However, a former high-ranking Turkish military officer told The National this week that she likely had little to share on the terror group's organisation and her detention was an effort to illustrate that the country was taking action on ISIS.
“For the Turkish National Intelligence, or Turkish police, ISIS are not the real enemy," said Ahmet Yayla, a former Turkish counter-terrorism police chief and now a fellow at the George Washington University's programme on extremism.
"They do not seriously look for these people, but Erdogan is in a position where he is trying to prove that he is fighting against ISIS.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
PSA DUBAI WORLD SERIES FINALS LINE-UP
Men’s:
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY)
Ali Farag (EGY)
Simon Rosner (GER)
Tarek Momen (EGY)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez (COL)
Gregory Gaultier (FRA)
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY)
Nick Matthew (ENG)
Women's:
Nour El Sherbini (EGY)
Raneem El Welily (EGY)
Nour El Tayeb (EGY)
Laura Massaro (ENG)
Joelle King (NZE)
Camille Serme (FRA)
Nouran Gohar (EGY)
Sarah-Jane Perry (ENG)
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
FROM%20THE%20ASHES
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Khalid%20Fahad%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3EStarring%3A%20Shaima%20Al%20Tayeb%2C%20Wafa%20Muhamad%2C%20Hamss%20Bandar%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3ERating%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
War
Director: Siddharth Anand
Cast: Hrithik Roshan, Tiger Shroff, Ashutosh Rana, Vaani Kapoor
Rating: Two out of five stars
'THE WORST THING YOU CAN EAT'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Test squad: Azhar Ali (captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan(wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah
Twenty20 squad: Babar Azam (captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Musa Khan, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Wahab Riaz
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
