December 2023 Cyprus terror plot | |
---|---|
Part of Iran–Israel proxy conflict | |
Operation Name | December 2023 Cyprus terror plot |
part of | Iran–Israel proxy conflict |
Roster | |
Initiated by | Cyprus Intelligence Service Mossad Cyprus Police |
Executed by | Cyprus Police |
Countries Participated | Cyprus Israel |
# of Countries Participated | 2 |
Mission | |
Target | Quds Force operatives |
Objective | Disruption to a possible terrorist attack/ assassination of Israeli targets in Cyprus |
Timeline | |
Date begin | Unknown |
Date executed | 10 December 2023 |
Results | |
Suspects | 2 |
Arrests | 2 |
Accounting |
The December 2023 Cyprus terror plot on December 10, 2023, was a planned terrorist attack against Israelis in Cyprus. Cyprus Police, after a surveillance operation in co-ordination with the Cypriot Intelligence Service and information from Mossad, arrested two operatives of the Iranian quds force who were surveilling Israeli targets for a possible attack. [1]
As a result of the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, the threat against Israelis abroad has increased and Cyprus had been a target of previous attempts of Iranian backed attempts on Israeli interests on the island, all of which have been thwarted by local authorities. [2] [3] Since the Ayatollah took over in Iran, the Iranian government has been trying to undermine the Israeli security apparatus via assassination attempts, terrorist attacks, funding proxies such as Hamas and Hezbollah and trying to acquire nuclear weapons. [4] [5]
The two suspects came to the island from Turkey and occupied northern Cyprus and staged their surveillance operation from there, due to the fact that the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control of the occupied areas an Turkey's growing distance stance from the state of Israel and support of Hamas. [6] [7] [8] [9] Cypriot Intelligence began surveilling the suspects a few months prior to their arrest and with information from the CIA and Mossad. [10] [11]
The two suspects were arrested in Cyprus in November of 2023 after weeks of surveillance and in time to disrupt the attacks that would have taken place, primarily on Israeli businessmen. [12] One of the suspects, belonged to Unit 400 of the quds force which is an Iranian elite special operations unit. [13] [14]
The relations between Iran and Israel are divided into four major phases: the ambivalent period from 1947 to 1953, the friendly period during the era of the Pahlavi dynasty from 1953 to 1979, the worsening period following the Iranian Revolution from 1979 to 1990, and the ongoing period of open hostility since the end of the Gulf War in 1991. In 1947, Iran was among 13 countries that voted against the United Nations Partition Plan for the British Mandate of Palestine. Two years later, Iran also voted against Israel's admission to the United Nations.
The Quds Force is one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) specializing in unconventional warfare and military intelligence operations. U.S. Army's Iraq War General Stanley McChrystal describes the Quds Force as an organization analogous to a combination of the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the United States. Responsible for extraterritorial operations, the Quds Force supports non-state actors in many countries, including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Houthi movement, and Shia militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. According to Michael Wigginton et al., the Al-Quds Force is "a classic example of state-sponsored terrorism."
Jordanian General Intelligence Department, GID or Mukhabarat is the primary civilian foreign and domestic intelligence agency of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The GID is reportedly one of the most important and professional intelligence agencies in the Middle East; the agency has been instrumental in foiling several terrorist attacks both in Jordan and around the world.
The State of Israel and the Republic of Turkey formally established diplomatic relations in March 1949. Less than a year after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Turkey recognized Israeli sovereignty, making it the world's first Muslim-majority country to do so. Both countries gave high priority to bilateral cooperation in the areas of diplomacy and military/strategic ties, while sharing concerns with respect to the regional instabilities in the Middle East. In recent decades, particularly under Turkey's Erdoğan administration, the two countries' relationship with each other has deteriorated considerably. However, diplomatic ties were reinstated after a normalization initiative in mid-2022. Relations soured again after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, Turkey condemning Israel and condoning Hamas.
Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been accused by several countries of training, financing, and providing weapons and safe havens for non-state militant actors, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and other Palestinian groups such as the Islamic Jihad (IJ) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). These groups are designated terrorist groups by a number of countries and international bodies such as the EU, UN, and NATO; however, Iran considers such groups to be "national liberation movements" with a right to self-defense against Israeli military occupation. These proxies are used by Iran across the Middle East and Europe to foment instability, expand the scope of the Islamic Revolution, and carry out terrorist attacks against Western targets in the regions. Its special operations unit, the Quds Force, is known to provide arms, training, and financial support to militias and political movements across the Middle East, including Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Yemen.
Since the establishment of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the organization has been involved in economic and military activities, some of them controversial.
The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations, popularly known as Mossad, is the national intelligence agency of the State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with Aman and Shin Bet.
The 2010 Palestinian militancy campaign was a coordinated effort by 13 Palestinian militant groups, led by Islamist group Hamas, to derail peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The campaign consisted of attacks against Israelis in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Israel in which, according to a Hamas declaration in early September, "all options are open". The participating groups also included Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Popular Resistance Committees and an unnamed splinter group of Fatah. Some Israeli and Palestinian officials and analysts familiar with Hamas believe that the true target of the campaign is the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.
The 2012 attacks on Israeli diplomats occurred on 13 February 2012 after a bomb explosion on an Israeli diplomatic car in New Delhi, India, wounding one embassy staff member, a local employee and two passers-by. Another bomb planted in a car in Tbilisi, Georgia failed to explode and was defused by Georgian police.
Malaysia–Palestine relations refers to bilateral foreign relations between the two countries, Malaysia and Palestine.
On July 7, 2012, local authorities arrested Lebanese-born Swedish citizen Hossam Yaakoub in Limassol, Cyprus. Yaakoub admitted to being a member of the Shi'a Islamic militant group Hezbollah, who had been tasked with surveilling the activities of Israeli tourists on the island. Israel condemned the incident as an attempted terrorist attack.
The Iran–Israel proxy conflict, also known as the Iran–Israel proxy war or Iran–Israel Cold War, is an ongoing proxy conflict between Iran and Israel. In the Israeli–Lebanese conflict, Iran has supported Lebanese Shia militias, most notably Hezbollah. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran has backed Palestinian groups such as Hamas. Israel has supported Iranian rebels, such as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, conducted airstrikes against Iranian allies in Syria and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists. In 2018 Israeli forces directly attacked Iranian forces in Syria.
Saleh Muhammad Sulayman al-Arouri, also transliterated as Salah al-Arouri or Salih al-Aruri, was a Palestinian politician and senior leader of Hamas who served as deputy chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from October 2017 until his assassination in January 2024. He was a founding commander of its military wing, the Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades and also served as the Hamas's military commander of the West Bank, although he lived in Lebanon at the time of his assassination.
The Central Intelligence Service is the intelligence-gathering body of Cyprus. It was reorganised and given official status by a 14 April 2016 Parliamentary bill. The CIS was initially founded in 1970 by President Archbishop Makarios. The new Independent Authority was renamed "Cyprus Intelligence Service" and is responsible for internal and external national security, i.e. a Cypriot combination of MI5 and MI6.
The assassination of ASMLA leadership was an alleged Iranian plot which took place in October 2018, when a Norwegian citizen of Iranian descent was arrested and suspected of having planned Iranian intelligence operations in Denmark. Both the Norwegian PST and the Danish PET also suspected the man to take part in the planning of an alleged assassination against the leader of the Iranian group Arab Struggle Movement for the Liberation of Ahvaz. He was arrested in Gothenburg on 21 October 2018. Denmark called for EU sanctions against Iran as a result. Tehran denied the allegation and raised suspicion over the timing of the incident, saying that the plot was devised to damage Iran-Europe relations at a critical time.
The 2022 Istanbul terror plot was a terror plot uncovered by Mossad and the National Intelligence Organization. The plot consisted of an Iranian-led terror cell which planned to kidnap, murder, and assault Israeli tourists in Istanbul. Israel had given advisories against travelling to Turkey on 30 May and upgraded the advisory on 13 June, amid threats made by Iran. Israel later told its citizens in Turkey to lock their doors after a couple had to be transported following a tip of an Iranian terror cell waiting to kidnap them. Several suspects were arrested on 14 June in Istanbul, while the arrests were made public the 23 of June.
The Lions' Den is a Palestinian militant group operating in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
This is a timeline of Islamic State (ISIS)-related events that occurred in 2024.
Hezbollah in Latin America is a splinter organization of the Shia Islamist Lebanon-based group Hezbollah which operates in throughout South America.
Two Iranians suspected of planning to perpetrate terrorist attacks against Israelis in Cyprus were arrested by local authorities on Sunday. The Israeli authorities confirmed the news, adding the Mossad security agency was instrumental in foiling the terrorist plot.
In June, Mossad said it had detained an Iranian planning a terrorist attack against Israeli targets on the island.
In the past, Iran has largely attacked Israel through partners and proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Iran has been using Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus as a staging ground for terrorist attacks against Israelis and Jews, Mossad said on December 10.
"No one can make us qualify Hamas as a terrorist organization," he said in a speech in Istanbul. "Turkey is a country that speaks openly with Hamas leaders and firmly backs them."
Οι κρατικές υπηρεσίες πληροφοριών της Κύπρου παρακολουθούσαν από κοντά τις κινήσεις των δύο Ιρανών τους τελευταίους δύο μήνες και κατάφεραν να αποτρέψουν εγκαίρως πιθανές τρομοκρατικές ενέργειες. Για την δράση της ΚΥΠ έκανε συγκεκριμένη αναφορά και η Μοσάντ...[The Cypriot state intelligence services closely surveilled the movements of the two Iranians the last two months and they managed to prevent early possible terrorist incidents. For the role of KYP, Mossad made a specific statement...]