Jerusalem, 19 June, 2022 (TPS) — Israeli officials warned over the weekend that Iran is becoming desperate in its attempts to harm Israelis in Turkey, and that a terror attack is only a question of time.
Over two weeks ago, Israel’s National Security Council (NSC) Headquarters issued a Level 4 Travel Warning for Istanbul, the highest level possible. The travel warning was issued in the wake of security concerns regarding Iranian attempts to attack Israeli targets around the world, especially in Turkey.
Minister of Defense again called on “all Israelis in Turkey to obey the instructions of the security forces [and leave Turkey immediately]. Israel is working to thwart Iranian attempts to carry out an attack, and is preparing to respond forcefully to any attack on Israeli citizens – anywhere.”
Director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), former head of the IDF Intelligence Corps, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Tamir Hayman, warned that “Iran’s determination and desperation to harm any Israeli increases the risk of a squad succeeding in carrying out its plot.”
“The warnings of an Iranian attack in Turkey are serious and every Israeli is advised to follow the recommendation of the security forces. There is never one hundred percent coverage [in the ability to thwart an attack],” he wrote.
Over the weekend, Israel published the picture of Hussein Ta’ib, the head of Unit 4000, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence service, who is behind the attempts to carry out attacks in Istanbul.
According to Israeli sources, he is under a lot of pressure because of the demand of the Iranian security establishment to remove him from office due to his operational failures.
Ta’ib’s name is well known to the Israeli Mossad, Turkish intelligence and intelligence agencies in the US, the European Union and Arab countries. According to Western intelligence sources, he is considered one of the most dangerous people in Iran given the missions he performs inside and outside Iran and because he knows all the secrets of the regime.
Hayman said that the publication of Ta’ib’s photo is because Israel knows the elements that are motivating the assassination attempts in Turkey, and the message is that they will not be able to stay clean and will pay a personal price if terrorist attacks against Israelis take place.
“This is the right message – anyone who plans to murder Israelis should know that he is a dead man,” he wrote.
The MIT, Turkish intelligence led by Hakan Fidan, is making a supreme effort, as ordered by President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, to locate the Iranian terrorist cells in Turkey.
Erdogan fears harm to foreign tourism in Turkey if Israeli tourists are attacked by terrorists, which will adversely affect the Turkish economy, and he is determined to show that his country is safe.