Who are Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia? The Iranian sleeper cell haunting Europe

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

The images of four 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 group appearing seemingly out of nowhere, claimed the attack. This is still not proven fully proven with police still investigating the claim.

In just two weeks, they have 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 location where the ambulances were torched and footage from passers-by on the inferno. But it does not show the suspects carrying out the attack.

A message claimed ‘the synagogue has become one of the main 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 first 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 only Orthodox school in the Netherlands in what Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema called a ‘deliberate attack against the Jewish community.’

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

An IED was detonated at the entrance of the Atrium office complex in the Zuidas business district of Amsterdam, near the World Trade Center. The group claimed the target was a branch of the Bank of New York Mellon.

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

The logo at the end 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 top.

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

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

What have the Met said on the terror links?

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

DCS Luke Williams said: ‘We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack.

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

There have been no arrests, so far, 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 are seeing another attack, especially against a Jewish institution. We don’t know a lot about this organisation. It is certainly new.

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

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

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

‘What we have been seeing with almost all of these attacks is that they are going after symbols of either Israel or Jewish institutions.

‘Here I think we are seeing a little bit of amateurism. I don’t think this is being done by a well-established organisation. I suspect 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 wake up sleeper agents in the West to avenge him.

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

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

He told Metro: ‘The regime has dormant cells that could try and carry out terror attacks.

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

‘These attacks and other steps will be aimed at destabilising and charging a price for those who were responsible for what happened to Khamenei.’

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

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

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

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