AANES’ Asayish arrests sleeper cell of Turkish-backed SNA in Syria’s Raqqa
RAQQA, Syria (North Press) – On Monday, Internal Security Forces of North and East Syria (Asayish) arrested a sleeper cell affiliated with Turkish-backed Syrian National Armey (SNA) in the city of Raqqa, northern Syria.
The sleeper cell, which consisted of six militants, carried out several operations in the city and its villages including planting landmines, IEDs and killings in addition to targeting the main power transfer station there.
The Asayish media office in Raqqa released confessions of the cell admitting that they were receiving fund for their operations by officials of the Turkish-backed SNA, who were former leaders within the ranks of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Additionally, the militants of the sleeper cell received training and supported by officials of SNA through either social media websites or visiting areas held by the opposition factions such as the city of al-Bab and Tel Abyad, according to their confessions.
The militants admitted that they carried out operations and took photos of the sites and released them under the name of “Jund al-Forat” (soldiers of the Euphrates).
They added that they smuggled IEDs into Raqqa in order to blast them later in addition to carrying out assassination attempts against officials of Asayish. They also counterfeited currencies.
In early October, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announced the arrest of a sleeper cell of ISIS in the northern countryside of Raqqa.
On September 26, the counter-terrorism forces of the SDF with the support of the US-led Global Coalition arrested three leaders of ISIS in Raqqa.