From the Liveblog of
Sunday, October 27, 2019
Turkey claims it knew about US raid on IS leader
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleBEIRUT — A senior Turkish official says “to the best of my knowledge” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi arrived at a location in Syria 48 hours prior to the US military raid that is believed to have targeted the Islamic State jihadist group leader.
The Turkish official says in a written statement today that there has been “close coordination” among relevant parties and the Turkish military had advance knowledge of the raid.
In a tweet earlier, the Turkish army said it had “information exchanged and coordination” with US military authorities prior to the operation but did not elaborate.
The official adds: “I can neither confirm nor deny that any intelligence was shared to facilitate last night’s operation.”
The US raid with helicopters took place in the Barisha area north of Idlib city a few kilometers from the Turkish border.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.