Five arrested as Syria says it foiled Hezbollah-linked plot to kill Damascus rabbi

Ministry says suspects tried to plant bomb next to target’s home, adds they ‘received specialized military training abroad’; Syria source: Act shows Jewish community being protected

DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s Interior Ministry said Saturday that five people were arrested over a plot to attack an unidentified religious figure in Damascus, alleging the cell was linked to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group.

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster and reports in Syria and Saudi Arabia named the figure as Rabbi Michael Khoury.

In a statement, the ministry said security forces observed a woman as she attempted to “plant an explosive device in front of the house of a religious figure” near a church in Damascus’s Bab Touma area.

Security forces intervened and dismantled the device, arresting all five members of the cell, the statement said.

“Preliminary investigations revealed the cell’s link to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and that its members received specialized military training abroad,” including in handling explosives, the statement added.

The ministry added that investigations were still ongoing.

Kan cited an unnamed source within Syria’s leadership as saying the act attests to how Damascus is protecting the Jewish community, adding that Iran and Hezbollah are trying to undermine stability in Syria, including by encouraging pro-Palestinian protests.

There have been several plots to kill rabbis in the Middle East in recent years, most notably the kidnapping and killing of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates in 2024.

Kogan, a 28-year-old UAE-based rabbi with Israeli and Moldovan citizenship, went missing in Dubai, and his body was found a few days later in the Emirati city of Al Ain, which borders Oman.

The UAE sentenced three suspects to death over the murder — Olimpi Toirovich, Makhmudjon Abdurakhim and Azizbek Kamlovich — all of them Uzbek nationals who were arrested in Turkey.

Additionally, an Iranian plot to kill Azerbaijani Rabbi Shneor Segal was foiled by Baku in January 2025. According to reports, Iran recruited a Georgian drug trafficker to kill Segal and attack a Jewish education center.

The Georgian national and his Azerbaijani accomplice were arrested and charged with conspiring to commit a terrorist act.