Two teenagers arrested over arson attack on north London synagogue

Two teenagers have been arrested over an arson attack on a synagogue, police have said.

A 17-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man were taken into custody overnight in connection with the arson attack at Kenton United Synagogue in Harrow over the weekend.

Officers discovered ‘a bottle with some sort of accelerant’ had been thrown through the window, the Met Police said.

Kenton United Synagogue’s rabbi said their medical room was ‘badly damaged’.

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, Matt Jukes, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said a 17-year-old boy and 19-year-old man had been arrested overnight.

He said: ‘I’m really pleased to say that overnight, we have news of two arrests in relation to that incident.’

He added: ‘We’ve made over the last weeks, 15 arrests in relation to a series of six incidents that have targeted Jewish premises, the Jewish-led ambulance service and a Persian media organisation.’

In a news conference on Sunday, DC Jukes said bins were targeted outside a communal block on the same evening.

The attack followed suspected arson incidents against a Jewish charity in Hendon on Friday and was a few days after a synagogue in Finchley, north London, was struck by petrol bombs.

Met deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans said most of the recent attcaks against the Jewish community have been claimed online by the Ashab al-Yamin group, which has been publicly linked to Iran.

DC Jukes said this morning that Iranian-backed proxies was a ‘very serious line of inquiry’ for the force.

He added: ‘We’ve seen a pattern… people taking cash as it looks like quick and easy money.

‘Teams I led have put in prison individuals like Dylan Earl, who is serving a 17-year prison sentence for acting on behalf of the Wagner group, in that case, Russian connected. But this is part of the modern hybrid war fought by proxies.’

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