A newly identified terrorist faction, potentially connected to the Iranian regime, has surfaced in Europe. Known as Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, or The Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right, this group has taken responsibility for a series of four attacks targeting Jewish sites across the continent in the past week.
The first attack occurred on Monday at a synagogue in Liège, Belgium, where an explosive device was detonated. This was followed by an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam late Friday night, and the next evening, an explosive device was set off at a Jewish school in Amsterdam.
There are also reports linking the group to another attack on a Jewish site in Greece on Wednesday. However, specific details regarding the target or attack method have not been disclosed.
In Liège, at the synagogue located on rue Leon Fredericq, a blast occurred around 4 a.m. on March 9, 2026. The newly emerged terrorist organization, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, has claimed responsibility for this incident.
Joe Truzman, a senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the FDD’s Long War Journal, expressed his initial skepticism to Fox News Digital, describing the group’s initial statement as somewhat “amateurish.” However, after reviewing emerging videos from the group, he acknowledged the potential significance of their activities.
Truzman suggested that the ongoing conflict in Iran might have motivated the group’s actions, hinting at the possibility of external direction. He suspects there’s an unseen force behind these coordinated attacks, orchestrating their operations.
Truzman says he suspects the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) itself, which he says “has been active in Europe” and has “attempted to eliminate or assassinate dissidents.” Though he does not discount them being entity of an Iraqi militia group.
A pedestrian walks past a synagogue on ABN Davidsplein in Rotterdam, western Netherlands on March 13, 2026 after an arson attack. A formerly unknown terrorist group, Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya, claimed responsibility. (Media TV via ANP / AFP via Getty Images)
In addition to anticipating further attacks from Ashab al-Yamin, Truzman said that he is concerned that “the dissemination of [terror] videos online may compel other people to commit antisemitic attacks” in Europe. According to Truzman, Ashab al-Yamin’s videos are “starting to gain traction. They’re starting to get the views, and people are seeing it. And maybe the ones that are radicalized already or are going to be radicalized, may be influenced by these videos, and may commit an antisemitic attack or an attack on a Jewish site.”
He said that the attacks “have been mostly unsophisticated, but things may change, and they may start targeting people, too, during the day, when it’s busy.” So far all attacks have come at night.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on X that the group was tied to the regime in Tehran. “A jihadi group tied to an Iranian proxy” was responsible for the string of attacks. They noted that “the IRGC continues to sponsor and export terror across the globe.”
Onlookers are increasingly tying the attacks back to the war in Iran. The World Jewish Congress raised alarm bells about Ashab al-Yamin on X, stating that “security analysts believe the group may be part of Iran’s expanding network of proxy actors operating far beyond the Middle East.” The Congress called on governments to “treat this threat with the seriousness it deserves, dismantle the networks behind these attacks, and ensure Jewish communities can live and worship in safety.”
Amichai Chikli, Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Minister, called the attacks “part of a troubling pattern.” He explained that “terror networks linked to the Iranian axis are trying to expand their arena of activity into European cities and Jewish communities.”
Military members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in western Tehran, Iran (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The State Department did not respond to questions about whether it had previously been tracking Ashab al-Yamin, or if it planned to issue a warning to Americans traveling abroad to avoid Jewish institutions.
Israel’s National Security Council recently warned its citizens traveling abroad to conceal items that might identify them as Israeli or Jewish and to “avoid visiting sites identified as Jewish or Israeli” following the first of three shootings at Toronto synagogues in early March.
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