Who’re Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia? Iran sleeper cell haunting Europe | News UK

A brand new terror group has emerged because the outbreak of the Iran war, seemingly hell-bent on wreaking havoc across Europe.

The pictures of 4 burning Hetzola ambulances have been seared into the British public’s consciousness since three hooded figures set fire to Jewish volunteer ambulance service vehicles on Monday morning.

Just hours later Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, roughly translated as The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Righteous, a gaggle appearing seemingly out of nowhere, claimed the attack. This continues to be not proven fully proven with police still investigating the claim.

In only two weeks, they’ve also claimed bombings of Jewish targets across Belgium, Netherlands and Greece.

Shortly after the explosions rocked Golders Green, a video emerged claiming responsibility for the attack featuring a fast-becoming-familiar logo of a fist holding an AK-47 over a red flag.

It featured a Google map of the situation where the ambulances were torched and pictures from passers-by on the inferno. Nevertheless it doesn’t show the suspects carrying out the attack.

A message claimed ‘the synagogue has turn into considered one of the primary bastions of support for Israel in Britain’ and pointed to a 2024 visit by then prime minister Rishi Sunak who expressed ‘his country’s unwavering support for Israel.’

What attacks have Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia claimed already?

There have been a wave of attacks in synagogues and Jewish schools across Europe starting earlier in March.

One Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was left outside a synagogue in Liege, eastern Belgium in the primary known attack linked to the group on March 9.

It was damaged in an early morning blast denounced by the mayor as an ‘extremely violent act of antisemitism.’

Fortunately, no injuries were reported, with ‘only material damage,’ a spokesman for the police said.

On March 15, an overnight blast damaged the one Orthodox school within the Netherlands in what Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema called a ‘deliberate attack against the Jewish community.’

Earlier within the day, 4 young men were arrested on suspicion of setting off an explosion outside a synagogue in Rotterdam that caused fire damage to the constructing.

An IED was detonated at the doorway of the Atrium office complex within the Zuidas business district of Amsterdam, near the World Trade Center. The group claimed the goal was a branch of the Bank of Latest York Mellon.

No fatalities were reported, however the blast caused significant property damage.

The brand at the top of the video shows an outstretched arm holding an SVD rifle over a red flag and olive branches. The words ‘Jihad, steadfastness, victory’ appear at the highest.

It then features the text: ‘Within the name of Allah, essentially the most gracious, essentially the most merciful.

‘That is the ultimate warning. To all of the people of the world, especially within the European Union, immediately distance yourselves from all American and Zionist interests, facilities, and what’s affiliated with them.’

What have the Met said on the phobia links?

Counter-terror police have taken over the Golders Green investigation, however the attack has not yet been labelled a terror attack.

DCS Luke Williams said: ‘We’re aware of a web based claim from a gaggle taking responsibility for this attack.

‘Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will probably be a priority for the investigation team however it will not be something we will confirm at this current point.’

There have been no arrests, up to now, he added.

What do experts say?

Joe Truzman, a security analyst who has been monitoring and assessing Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia’s previous attacks, believes the group is an ‘Iran-crafted front’.

Mr Truzman, who works for the US think tank Foundation for Defence of Democracies, said: ‘I’m not surprised that we’re seeing one other attack, especially against a Jewish institution. We don’t know lots about this organisation. It’s actually recent.

‘My suspicion is that we’re observing an Iran-crafted front, meaning that that is an organisation that has been created by Iran, perhaps the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, to perform attacks specifically against Jewish institutions.’

Mr Truzman explained certain hallmarks of the group’s attacks link them to Iran, equivalent to the wording on their logo.

He added: ‘Their logo with the wording is an indication of a classic Iranian front organisation.

‘What we now have been seeing with just about all of those attacks is that they’re going after symbols of either Israel or Jewish institutions.

‘Here I feel we’re seeing slightly little bit of amateurism. I don’t think that is being done by a well-established organisation. I think that Iran is outsourcing these attacks to criminal organisations.’

Do Iranian sleeper cells in Europe exist?

Following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Israeli officials warned the Iranian regime would get up sleeper agents within the West to avenge him.

Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yossi Kuperwasser said ‘dormant’ pro-Regime forces could perform terror attacks to destabilise the US and its supporters.

Kuperwasser, a former head of the Research Division on the Israel Defense Forces’ Intelligence Corps, said the Iranian regime had supporters around the globe.

He told Metro: ‘The regime has dormant cells that might try to perform terror attacks.

‘These cells are across the globe for such an eventuality, and so they are probably working to wake them up now.

‘These attacks and other steps will probably be aimed toward destabilising and charging a price for many who were answerable for what happened to Khamenei.’

The previous general, who heads the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, said these dormant cells were in place ‘in the US and elsewhere’ where there are dissident Iranian communities.

Marc Henrichmann told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung paper: ‘The Iranian regime has repeatedly demonstrated previously that it carries out its terror beyond its own borders.

‘Retaliatory measures, including by Iranian sleeper cells in Europe, can’t be ruled out.’

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