In the early morning of August 1, 2024, six government jets, each loaded with human cargo in countries thousands of miles apart, were navigating through feathery summer clouds toward the same rendezvous point, a cordoned-off section of an airport in Turkey .

On the tarmac, protocol officers in black suits and sunglasses were nervously pacing, a heat haze lifting from the asphalt by the rising sun. Men in orange vests patrolled back and forth along the fenced perimeter of a normally bustling airport, now under lockdown. A solitary Turkish intelligence officer was watching them from the control tower, issuing directives to the aircraft over an encrypted line.

None of them would receive clearance to land until their crews ticked off a checklist that included taking, then texting him photo

See Full Page