Israel eases travel warning for Turkey

Israel eased on Tuesday its travel warning for visits to Turkey's Istanbul following the Turkey-Israel cooperation in countering so-called Iran's plans to attack Israeli citizens, reported Xinhua.

The Israeli National Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Division announced in a statement that the travel warning was lowered from Level 4, the highest level possible, to Level 3, or a medium threat.

"In the framework of a joint effort by the Turkish and Israeli security services and political echelons, several Iranian initiatives to attack Israeli citizens in Istanbul were thwarted," the statement said.

It said that Turkish security forces have located and arrested several "Iranian terrorist cells" that operated under Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and made use of Turkish nationals to try to carry out attacks against Israeli citizens in Istanbul.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett thanked Turkish security services and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for "their cooperation in thwarting attacks on Israelis in Turkey."

Israel claims that Iran has been attempting to carry out attacks against Israelis overseas to avenge the killing of Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, an IRGC colonel who was shot and killed by two motorcyclists east of Tehran on May 22.