Belgrade police arrest man with crossbow two days after Israeli embassy attack

Belgrade police arrest man with crossbow two days after Israeli embassy attack
Police officers discuss on a street around the Israeli embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
Short Url
Updated 02 July 2024
Follow

Belgrade police arrest man with crossbow two days after Israeli embassy attack

Belgrade police arrest man with crossbow two days after Israeli embassy attack
  • Serbia has been on high alert since Saturday, when a member of a special police unit was shot in the neck with a crossbow outside the Israeli embassy

BELGRADE: Belgrade police on Monday arrested a man who approached a police station carrying a backpack with a crossbow, two days after a crossbow attack at the Israeli embassy in the Serbian capital, police said.
In a statement, police authorities said the man crossed a barrier in front of the station and, after being ordered to stop, hurriedly started to walk away. Officers then caught up with him and carried out a search.
“In his backpack, a crossbow with seven arrows, several knives, and a jar with firecrackers were found. Motives are being investigated and a search of his apartment is being conducted,” police said.
It said the suspect was not on the government’s list of potential “extremists,” without adding details.
Police said he claimed that he was “being pursued by the mafia and secret services.”
“A medical examination will be carried out, and further actions will be decided by the prosecutor,” Serbia’s police minister Ivica Dacic said in the statement.
Serbia has been on high alert since Saturday, when a member of a special police unit was shot in the neck with a crossbow outside the Israeli embassy.
The officer then opened fire and killed the attacker, said Dacic, denouncing a “heinous terrorist act.” The officer remains in hospital recovering after undergoing surgery.
Authorities said the assailant was a Serbian convert to Islam. His wife, currently in Montenegro, is being questioned by police at Serbia’s request.


UK PM Starmer rules out total ban on arms exports to Israel

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (File/Reuters)
Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (File/Reuters)
Updated 6 sec ago
Follow

UK PM Starmer rules out total ban on arms exports to Israel

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. (File/Reuters)
  • Sir Keir warns that defensive weapons must continue to be sent in the face of Iranian threats, proxy activities
  • Remarks come after French President Macron calls for halt on arms sales, demanding a return to a ‘political solution’

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said he would “never” ban all arms sales to Israel.

The Labour leader made the claim during questions in the House of Commons on Monday, adding he believed Israel has a right to defend itself.

“If the sale of weapons for defensive use by Israel were banned, that is a position I could not countenance a year after Oct 7. It’s not a position I could countenance in the face of attacks by Iran,” Sir Keir told Parliament.

“The idea that we could say we support Israel’s right to defend herself, and at the same time deprive her of the means to do so, is so wholly inconsistent that it will never be my position.”

The UK government suspended 30 arms export licenses to Israel last month over fears they could be used to break international law. However, 32 other licenses remain.

The prime minister received criticism for his stance, with Zarah Sultana MP, currently suspended from the Labour Party, telling Sir Keir to do what is “morally and legally right” and ban “all arms sales” to Israel, including components for F-35 fighter jets.

On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron called for a halt on arms exports to Israel after it invaded Lebanon.

“I think that today, the priority is that we return to a political solution, that we stop delivering weapons to fight in Gaza,” he said.

Sir Keir echoed the need for a political solution to the crisis on the anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

“Make no mistake, the region can’t take another year of this. All sides must step back from the brink and find the courage of restraint,” Sir Keir said.

US President Joe Biden also used the anniversary to tell Israeli President Isaac Herzog that Washington would “never give up until we bring all of the remaining hostages home safely.”


Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict

Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict
Updated 15 min 2 sec ago
Follow

Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict

Norway raises terrorism alert level due to Middle East conflict
  • Norwegian police officers, who are normally unarmed, will now carry guns nationwide as a result of the decision
  • “It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” the statement said

OSLO: Norway has raised its terrorism threat assessment to the second-highest level due to an increased risk of attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets, the national police directorate said on Tuesday.
Norwegian police officers, who are normally unarmed, will now carry guns nationwide as a result of the decision by the PST security service to raise the threat level, the directorate said.
“PST raises the terror threat level in Norway from moderate to high as a result of the ongoing escalation of the conflict in the Middle East,” the police said in a statement.
“It is primarily the threat to Jewish and Israeli targets that has been further intensified,” the statement said.
National Police Commissioner Benedicte Bjoernland said there was an increased likelihood of attempted terrorism.
.”..we have a number of measures in place to protect the population,” she said in a statement.
Neighbouring Sweden in August last year raised its terrorist alert to the second-highest level after Qur'an burnings outraged Muslims and triggered threats from militants.


UK spy boss highlights surge in children linked to terror plots

UK spy boss highlights surge in children linked to terror plots
Updated 34 min 31 sec ago
Follow

UK spy boss highlights surge in children linked to terror plots

UK spy boss highlights surge in children linked to terror plots
  • MI5 boss Ken McCallum said that Russian intelligence was seeking to cause ‘mayhem’ in Britain
  • Under-18s represent 13 percent of people being investigated by the spy agency for possible involvement in terror activities

LONDON: The chief of Britain’s domestic intelligence service on Tuesday blamed extreme right-wing ideologies for a “staggering” rise in the number of children being investigated for terrorism.
MI5 boss Ken McCallum also said that Russian intelligence was seeking to cause “mayhem” in Britain because of its support for Ukraine and that his agency had investigated growing numbers of Iran-backed plots.
Under-18s represent 13 percent of people being investigated by the spy agency for possible involvement in terror activities, McCallum said.
He told reporters at MI5’s Counter Terrorism Operations Center in London that the number marked “a threefold increase in the last three years.”
McCallum said the Internet was the “biggest factor” driving the rise, describing how easily youngsters can access “inspirational and instructional material” from their bedrooms.
He said the intelligence service was seeing “far too many cases where very young people are being drawn into poisonous online extremism” and singled out “canny” Internet memes.
“Extreme right-wing terrorism in particular skews heavily toward young people, driven by propaganda that shows a canny understanding of online culture,” he added.
“It’s not really a consistent single ideology on the extreme right-wing side and that is what has skewed the numbers most heavily.”
The UK terrorist threat level remains at “substantial” — the third highest on five — meaning an attack is likely.
MI5 and the police have disrupted more than 40 late-stage attack plots since March 2017, saving “numerous lives,” McCallum said.
He added that the Daesh group had “resumed efforts to export terrorism” and that in the last year inquiries into plots by hostile states had surged by 48 percent.
According to McCallum, Russia’s intelligence service had tried to cause “mayhem” in the UK because of Britain’s support for Ukraine.
Meanwhile, MI5 has responded to 20 Iran-backed plots since January 2022 that presented potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents, he added.


Hungary PM Orban says Ukraine “cannot win on the battlefield“

Hungary PM Orban says Ukraine “cannot win on the battlefield“
Updated 55 min 24 sec ago
Follow

Hungary PM Orban says Ukraine “cannot win on the battlefield“

Hungary PM Orban says Ukraine “cannot win on the battlefield“
  • Orban added that both direct and indirect communication is needed between the warring parties

BUDAPEST: Ukraine cannot win the war with Russia on the battlefield and communication and a ceasefire are needed to save lives, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Tuesday at a news conference in Strasbourg.
Orban added that both direct and indirect communication is needed between the warring parties and it was a part of international politics that a third party mediates between them.


Prophet’s Mosque imam meets Indonesia top leaders on Jakarta visit

Prophet’s Mosque imam meets Indonesia top leaders on Jakarta visit
Updated 58 min 47 sec ago
Follow

Prophet’s Mosque imam meets Indonesia top leaders on Jakarta visit

Prophet’s Mosque imam meets Indonesia top leaders on Jakarta visit
  • Sheikh Ahmed Al-Huthaifi will lead Friday prayers at Istiqlal Mosque
  • Indonesian Ulama Council hopes visit will strengthen Saudi-Indonesia ties

JAKARTA: Prophet’s Mosque Imam Sheikh Ahmed Al-Huthaifi is on a five-day visit to Indonesia to meet the top political and religious leadership in the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

The Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah is one of the three holiest sites in Islam, along with the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Its imam arrived in Jakarta on Monday evening and met with Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin and officials from the Indonesian Ulama Council on Tuesday.

“The vice president hopes that his visit as the Prophet’s Mosque imam will strengthen friendly relations between our countries beyond bilateral relations between two states, but also people-to-people relations,” Masduki Baidlowi, the vice president’s spokesperson, told Arab News.

“This is so that Indonesians and Saudis can further connect, exchange ideas and cultures.”

Al-Huthaifi will lead Friday prayers and deliver a sermon at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta — the largest mosque in Southeast Asia.

He is also scheduled to visit Islamic boarding schools in the Indonesian capital and meet with the leadership of the country’s largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah.

“This is a very important visit, especially because he is the imam of the Prophet’s Mosque, which is widely respected by Muslims around the world, including in Indonesia,” Dr. Sudarnoto Abdul Hakim, the Indonesian Ulama Council’s chair of foreign relations, told Arab News.

He was hopeful that the visit would enhance relations between Saudi Arabia and Indonesia and contribute to strengthening the global Muslim community.

“Relations between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia must be strengthened for the future, especially because the world is facing turmoil right now with the impact of what’s happening in Palestine, which continues to be subjected to genocide by Israel, with destructions expanding into southern Lebanon,” Hakim said.

“Unity among Muslims will have a constructive effect in … building peace and security at the global level.”