Drones deployed over London to protect Jewish community as two teenagers arrested over synagogue arson attack

Drones, police motorbike units and armed officers are being deployed in hundreds of extra patrols to protect London’s Jewish community after a series of arson attacks.

Met Police Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes also warned that Iran may be behind the string of recent anti-Semitic incidents in the capital.

Many of them are being claimed online to have been committed by the Ashab al-Yamin group (Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right).

The security services and counter-terrorism police are probing whether the shadowy group is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the military hardliners in the Tehran regime.

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Mr Jukes also appealed to all Londoners to join the battle to protect the city’s Jewish community after two teenagers were arrested following an arson attack at a synagogue in north London over the weekend.

A “bottle with some sort of accelerant” was thrown through a window at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow at midnight on Sunday and smoke was seen inside a room, the Met said.

The attack resulted in minor smoke damage to an internal room, but no injuries or significant structural damage were reported, according to the Community Security Trust (CST).

The synagogue’s rabbi Yehuda Black said that the item was thrown into the medical room.

Mr Jukes told how Scotland Yard has significantly increased policing to protect the Jewish community as it is being targeted.

“We've got drones, motorbikes, armed officers, taser armed officers,” he told LBC Radio.

“In fact, it was one of those patrols that came across the incident in Kenton United Synagogue.”
Officers had returned to the synagogue, after passing it half an hour earlier in a patrol, and spotted smoke coming out of a window, alerted the fire brigade and limited the damage from the attack.

The police chief said anti-terrorism officers were looking “incredibly closely” at whether Iran may be behind the attacks in London following the claims by the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right that it was carrying them out.

“We’ve sadly seen hate crime in our communities before, we've seen radicalization towards terrorism, but now what we've got is the prospect of a foreign state actually using that as a mechanism to sow discord, discontent and to create anxiety in our communities,” he added.

He also warned young people, reportedly being paid as little as a few hundred pounds as “thugs to hire” to commit such arson attacks, that they were risking 12 to 15 years in prison.

“We're going to catch you because London, this fantastic city, is on the lookout for you,” he stressed.

“All Londoners today should be vigilant on behalf of their Jewish neighbours to give us the information that can help us bring those responsible to justice.”
Fifteen people have been arrested in recent weeks in relation to a series of six incidents that have targeted Jewish premises, the Jewish-led ambulance service and a Persian media organisation.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism posted a video on its account on X shortly after the attack in Kenton, showing the aftermath of the incident with police and the London Fire Brigade on the scene.

A caption on the post read: “Last night, another Jewish synagogue in London was firebombed, this time in Kenton.

This is the third such attack in as many days, and also comes after the recent ambulance arson attack and a supposed drone threat against the Israeli embassy in London this week.

“This is now becoming a terrifying spate of daily arson attacks on the Jewish community.”
A video of the attack appears to have been published by Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, which has recently claimed attacks across Europe.

The video, filmed by another person behind the metal fence surrounding the building, shows a person in dark clothing lighting an item and throwing it at the synagogue before running away.

The Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis called the attack “cowardly”, adding that “a sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum”.

Police were seen searching a black SUV near the Kenton United Synagogue on Sunday morning.

A cordon was in place and a forensics officer, fire investigation dogs and several plainclothes officers were working at the scene, with one marked and five unmarked police cars outside the place of worship.

There has been a spate of attacks on the Jewish community in recent weeks.

On Friday, a man approached a row of shops in Hendon carrying a plastic bag later found to contain three bottles of fluid, placing the bag by a building before lighting the items and fleeing the scene when they failed to fully ignite.

The former Jewish Futures building sustained minor damage to its shopfront in the incident, with no injuries reported.

And on Wednesday, bottles, one thought to contain petrol, were placed near Finchley Reform Synagogue in Fallow Court Avenue, Finchley.

Another incident reportedly saw a drone flown near the Israeli embassy in London, and a petrol bomb was thrown towards the site of Volant Media, the parent company of Persian news channel Iran International.

Sir Keir Starmer said he was "appalled" at the recent attacks, adding: “We are increasing visible policing and those responsible will be found and brought to justice.”