The United States and Turkey are working together to crack down on a human smuggling network linked to the Islamic State militant movement, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend the second day of the G7 summit in Borgo Egnazia, Italy June 14, 2024. Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
The United States and Turkey are working together to crack down on a human smuggling network linked to the Islamic State militant movement, the U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday.
After a probe closely coordinated with Ankara, Washington imposed sanctions on four individuals, three of whom were involved in the network, it said in a statement.
"As a result of this close cooperation, (Turkey) is concurrently taking its own domestic action against this network," it said. The statement did not say how long the group had been operating or how many people it had smuggled.
In May, Turkish authorities said they had detained 41 people suspected of having ties to Islamic State in operations across 12 provinces. Islamic State controlled one third of Iraq and Syria at its 2014 peak and though beaten back, it continues to wage insurgent attacks.
Reporting by David Ljunggren
The U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said five of its fighters had been killed on Saturday in attacks by Turkish-backed forces on the city of Manbij in northern Syria.
The United Nations Security Council on Friday extended a long-running peacekeeping mission between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights for six months and expressed concern that military activities in the area could escalate tensions.
Russian authorities have announced the implementation of electronic visas for Jordanian citizens, according to a statement from the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates.
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