TEL AVIV – The US Department of State travel warning for Turkey, reissued Tuesday, relies on concrete evidence of imminent large-scale terror attacks to be carried out by Kurdish as well as Islamic militants, an Arab intelligence official told Breitbart Jerusalem.
The US government advised against travel to Turkey, especially southeastern regions near the Iraqi and Syrian borders.
The official said Turkey is likely to be the target of attempts at massive terror attacks in the near future as a result of its recent involvement in the Syrian civil war and ongoing unrest in the wake of last month’s coup attempt.
He also said that an Arab intelligence agency received information of a gathering in Lebanon where a massive attack on Turkish soil was planned for October. Some of the participants were arrested in Lebanon and others in Turkey, he revealed, adding “some still walk free and in all likelihood will try to carry out the planned attack.”
The source added that Turkey remains on high alert and is doing its utmost to foil the attacks. He said Turkish security received “very concrete information, but the flow of intelligence now risks being affected by Turkey’s intervention in Syria and what seems like Ankara’s revision of its Syria policy, relinquishing the demand that [President Bashar] Assad stands down.”
He said that Arab countries see this shift in a very negative light and may no longer share intelligence with Turkey as a result.
Turkey, says the source, remains convinced that some Arab regimes supported the failed coup attempt, and continue in their attempts to destabilize Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s regime.
In the aftermath of the July 15 coup attempt, Breitbart Jerusalem reported that Turkey believes Egypt and the UAE masterminded and funded the coup. Breitbart Jerusalem also quoted Arab sources saying that Turkey suspected former Palestinian official Mohammed Dahlan was a major conspirator.