Terror group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia sparked fear across Europe after being suspected of using local criminals to carry out arson and explosives attacks
“Cash for hire” terrorists have struck fear across the UK and Europe with a series of arson and bomb attacks that experts believe could be linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
A new wave of terror attacks have methodically targeted Jewish and Iranian diaspora communities in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the UK since March. Organisation Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia (HIYA) has been quick to claim responsibility for attacks, with concern about cash for hire criminals coming following attacks on the Jewish community in England.
Metropolitan Police officers arrested two people in connection with the attack and seven others were apprehended the following day for planning to commit arson. But there are still fears terrorists could break through, and appear to have an overarching strategy behind their campaign of fear.
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Concerns over terrorism and the targeting of the Jewish community was further thrust into the spotlight after two men were stabbed in the major Jewish hub of Golders Green. As a result, the public was urged to be on alert as the UK’s terror threat level was raised to “severe,” meaning an attack is highly likely.
Terrorism and national security expert Anthony Glees of the University of Buckingham believes there is enough evidence to suspect “it is an offshoot of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.” Iran’s regime has been well known for sponsoring terrorist groups across the Middle East, including funding Hamas and Hezbollah.
Iran’s network of terrorism in the Middle East has been systematically dismantled since the October 7 massacre in Israel, in 2023, with both Hamas and Hezbollah seeing their leadership wiped out and capabilities severely diminished. Tehran has since attempted to project strength via new terrorist avenues at targets it believes are linked to Israel, which cooperated with the US to strike Iran earlier this year.
“The Iranians see the West at war with them,” Glees told The Mirror. “They see the Israelis and the Jewish people, you know, like many people even in the UK, they can’t distinguish between Israel, the Jewish people in Israel and Jewish communities not in Israel. They’re all one at the same. They say, the Iranians say, ‘These guys are all at war with us. We must attack them wherever we can’. You know, America has taken away our army. It’s taken away our navy, but we’ve got this chokehold now, the straight of horses, and we will attack them on their home soil.”
While Tehran’s Mullah impose a strict Islamic regime on home soil, the strategy used by HIYA is different to jihadist attacks in Europe which have aimed to inflict as many casualties in as short a time as possible. Glees suspects the group could be funded by Iran via indirect or direct means and those carrying out arson attacks could be doing it for financial gain.
“If people are doing it for cash, which seems highly likely, then how are they getting the cash?” Glees added. “Is it is it Bitcoin? Highly likely. No traces of anything. So this this is potentially a very serious security threat.
“Yes, it is targeted at Jewish Brits is not targeted at the rest of us. And that again, there’s a kind of tactical aspect to that. If you think of previous jihadi attacks in the UK and elsewhere the past 10 years, they’re indiscriminate and they they go for everybody.
“Christmas markets, London Underground, you name it. They don’t care who’s who’s killed. Now, what they’re trying to do is aim specifically at Jewish people. And that again suggests not just tactics, but a strategy. And it’s getting hold of that strategy and making sure that we are properly able to defend ourselves.
Glees said it would be unlikely Tehran despots would use Iranian nationals to hit targets in the UK as it would be “too obvious.” Instead, he said using petty criminals would make “perfect sense” as they would carry out the act and make it impossible to connect the two parties, especially if they were paid in Bitcoin.
His assessment is shared by the Metropolitan Police who last week said officers were investigating any instances of “cash for crime” in connection with the arson attacks in the UK. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, the Senior National Co-ordinator of Counter Terrorism Policing, previously said a key lines of inquiry is whether people being paid for crime were behind the attacks.
Glees also warns any serious escalation in the Middle East could spark more devastating attacks in Europe, should Donald Trump be “foolish” enough to launch a military invasion of Iran. He said: “We’re likely to be in for a very rough ride because the way things are looking at the moment is that Trump will try to make peace with Iran and that will actually embolden Iran because they faced down what they call ‘the mighty Satan’ and American power, which Trump and (Pete) Hegseth have been trumpeting all the time, has [been] shown not to be invincible.
“If Trump is foolish enough to actually put boots on the ground, which is the only way you’re going to get rid of the regime at a huge loss of American lives – I don’t believe he’s thinking of it for one moment, but supposedly he were then that too would embolden the Iranians, if it is the Iranians or Jihadists and make our position here in the UK even more vulnerable, because they would then be literally fighting for their lives and there would be no holds barred.
“So, I think the situation is getting more serious. What can you do? What’s disturbing I think is that as the attacks on the Jewish synagogues are showing is that they are getting through, the attacks are getting through. Cops are coming in quickly and picking people up but the attacks are happening and our Jewish community would be right to be very troubled and anxious now.”
