Military activity of ISIL

Turkish authorities detained the wife of Abu Omar al-Shishani, a senior Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) commander killed in combat two years ago, in a counter-terrorism operation in Istanbul this month, police said late on July 19.

European and U.S. police forces have struck at the heart of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant 's (ISIL) propaganda machine, seizing servers and "punching a hole" in its ability to spread its radical jihadist message online.

A couple sought with an Interpol red notice over alleged links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was arrested in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on March 1, citing security sources. 

Turkish prosecutors are seeking the indictment of the widow of an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighter, who they accuse of making bombs with her late husband for the group in Syria, U.S. news source Voice of America (VOA) reported on Feb. 16, citing local authorities.

A total of 1,447 people, including foreigners, were detained in Istanbul for their suspected links to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in 2017, state-run Anadolu Agency reported on Jan. 2.

The Russian army on June 16 said it hit Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month and was seeking to verify whether ISIL chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant's (ISIL) battle-tested equivalent of a defense minister is believed to have been killed in a US air strike in northeastern Syria, a US official said March 8.

CIA director John Brennan has said that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants have used chemical weapons and have the capability to make small quantities of chlorine and mustard gas, CBS News reported Feb. 11.

U.S. military commanders have been given the authority to target the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said on Jan. 21, the first such order beyond Iraq and Syria, where the militants control parts of both countries.

Some 400 Turks who joined the ranks of jihadist fighting in Syria and Iraq have been killed so far, as 900 more were still with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a foreign ministry official told Hürriyet Daily News during a meeting on Sept. 17. 

In addition to the 900, some 200 to 300 joined al-Nusra, a jihadist group in Syria linked to al-Qaeda.