The Fars news agency on Monday issued a list of five Israelis who are being targeted by Iran, in retaliation for last week’s assassination of Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodayari, a high-ranking officer in the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), allegedly by Israel (High-Ranking IRGC Quds Force Officer Assassinated in Tehran).
Under the headline “Zionists Who Must Live in Hiding,” Fars claimed that former head of IDF Military Intelligence Amos Malka, cybersecurity experts Amir Levental and Amit Meltzer, and IDF 8200 cyber intelligence unit veterans Gal Ganot and Inbal Arieli, as well as their families and colleagues, are “under close surveillance day and night” over their involvement “in sabotage against Islamic countries and the assassination of activists of the Islamic Resistance.”
“The mercenaries of the Provisional Zionist regime who carry out acts of sabotage against Islamic countries are unaware that, in addition to themselves, their families, colleagues, and all their actions, they are under close surveillance day and night by the intelligence and security fighters of the resistance,” Fars said.
“Due to the gradual change of the Zionist regime’s strategy from the nuclear field to the geopolitical concerns of the resistance axis, as well as the regime’s concerns about complex future operations, Fars correspondent with access to some internal resources of this regime and other security sources, list of military and security experts, Has acquired the defense, cyber and technology of the interim Zionist regime,” the news agency continued.
It then followed with a summary of what it claimed was “the information obtained about the activities of these individuals who were involved in sabotage against Islamic countries and the assassination of activists of the Islamic Resistance. The rest of the information includes deep details of family members, pictures and videos, home and work addresses, traffic routes, landline, and mobile phone numbers, mailboxes and other information related to these people, and of course, the list of influential people, monitored and There are far more wanted people in the regime in the field of technology, military and security in the regime who are exposed to possible measures, which will be published over time.”
I must say, without belittling the seriousness of the threat, Fars’s pick of Israeli officials on whom to pin the blame for taking out their top terrorist looks random and outdated.
But Israel is taking the threat seriously, and its National Security Council on Monday warned Israeli citizens against traveling to Turkey due to the threat of terror attacks by Iranian elements (Israel’s National Security Council Warns Citizens Against Travel to Turkey).
The warning from Israel’s NSA was received by Turkish officials with disappointment and frustration. The recent warming of the relations between the two countries was expected to boost Israeli tourism in Turkey whose tourist industry is suffering because of the Russia-Ukraine war.
In their talks in Turkey, both President Isaac Herzog and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid did not focus so much on threats from Iran but rather on the Hamas presence in Istanbul and elsewhere in the country that threatens the lives of Israeli visitors. Still, the NSA’s travel warning had an immediate impact on Israeli travelers, many of whom canceled their trips to Turkey even when the cancelation was so late that they couldn’t get their money back.
The Turks are so desperate for Israeli tourists they are reportedly considering permitting Israeli airlines to fly to Turkey.
Turkish defense minister Hulusi Akar, on an official visit to Abu Dhabi, on Tuesday reiterated Ankara’s determination to continue fighting against terrorism regardless of who is behind it. “Due to the current situation, we see that we have to make some interventions to protect our country,” he told reporters, “We will continue our fight until the last terrorist is neutralized.”
Anadolu explained that Turkish authorities use the term “neutralized” to imply the terrorists in question surrendered or were killed or captured. Well, then, they’d be delighted with the news that somebody neutralized Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodayari, thank you very much, no need to applaud.
