DAMASCUS, March 5, (Xinhua): Syrian authorities said on Thursday they have thwarted a planned attack on the capital following a security operation in the Damascus countryside carried out with Turkish intelligence. The plot was foiled after internal security forces conducted a joint operation in rural areas around Damascus, an anonymous official from the security authorities told the state news agency SANA.

The operation involved Syria's General Intelligence Directorate and Turkish intelligence services, the source said, without providing details about the suspects, the nature of the planned attack or whether any arrests were made. Officials did not disclose when or where the operation took place. Syrian authorities periodically announce security operations targeting militant cells, particularly in areas around Damascus that saw extremist activity during the country's civil war.