Israel's Shin Bet security agency announced Tuesday it busted a Syrian-directed terror cell in east Jerusalem that had been plotting attacks against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior officials.
Muhammad Jamal Rashdah, 30, from the Shu'fat refugee camp in East Jerusalem, was arrested April 24, Israeli news outlet 24 News reported. He had previously been imprisoned for terrorist activities, the news outlet reported. Two others were later arrested.
The suspect, who holds an Israeli ID card, also intended to carry out out attacks against a delegation of Canadian security representatives living in Jerusalem to train the Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, as well as against buildings belonging to the American consulate, 24 News reported.
According to the Shin Bet, Rashdah had begun gathering intelligence about his targets and had already taken a number of preliminary steps to advance his efforts, the news outlets reported.
Rashdah and his accomplices had intended to bring in an additional terrorist operative from Jordan, the Shin Bet said.
According to the Israeli news outlets, Rashdah was operating on orders from a Syrian terrorist operative based in Damascus affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General Command, a Syria-based terrorist group allied with the regime forces of President Bashar Assad.
In the 1980's, the organization began secretly working with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group in Lebanon, but re-emerged during the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, 24 News reported.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.