More than 40,000 foreigners from 100 different countries joined the jihadist movement after it declared the establishment of a "caliphate" in 2017 after seizing large portions of land in Syria and Iraq.
The group's self-proclaimed capital in Syria, Raqqa, fell to the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in early October, and in June Iraqi forces liberated Mosul from IS fighters, one of Iraq's biggest cities.
After a series of deadly attacks that rocked big cities such as Ankara and Istanbul in the past two years, Turkey, accused by some in the past of turning a blind eye to IS, is waging a full fledged war against the terrorist group.
According to the Turkish authorities, more than 5,000 suspected IS militants have been arrested and some 3,300 foreign fighters have been deported since January 2017.
But the authorities also fear that despite more effective border control (Syria and Iraq) where huge walls have been erected with constant police repression in major cities, there could be an increase of attacks on Turkish soil in order to make up for the damage suffered in Raqqa and Mosul.
"We see that foreign fighters are returning home and Turkey, as a country where militants are coming back to, is surely under threat," told Xinhua Can Acun, a Middle East expert at the Ankara-based Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research think tank.
Acun mentioned that the Turkish military has managed to sweep up jihadist forces near its borders with the Euphrates Shield operation (September 2016 to March 2017) in Syrian soil.
【国际英语资讯:Spotlight: Turkey foils IS attack in Istanbul after major defeats of jihadists in Syria, Ira】相关文章:
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