Counter terror police “immobilised” a 34-year-old Syrian at the Israeli embassy in Romania after he is alleged to have thrown a fire bomb and tried to set himself alight.
A 34-year-old Syrian migrant was arrested in Bucharest, Romania on Monday after allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail-type incendiary device at the door of the capital’s Israeli embassy. Romanian newspaper Adevarul reports the man also tried to set himself alight but was quickly “immobilised” by counter-terrorism police.
No injuries are reported and the only damage is said to have been a poster on the door, the Israeli embassy said in a statement. They thanked “the local security forces and the Romanian Police for their quick and efficient response”.
Members of a special unit of the Romanian gendarmerie stand outside the apartment block in which the Israeli embassy is located in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, June 3, 2024. A foreign citizen was detained in Romania’s capital on Monday after allegedly attacking the entrance of the Israeli Embassy with a Molotov cocktail, causing a small fire but no casualties, local media and police reported. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
While an investigation into the incident is ongoing, Romanian police were quick to quash any suggestion the attack may have been an act of attempted terrorism, or that it was even politically motivated at all. They said: “This event is not related to the international context, it is a personal dissatisfaction of the man, namely the fact that he did not obtain a certain residence. This information will be confirmed after the end of the investigations that are taking place.”
Ambassador Reuven Azar of Israel to Romania seemed to dissent from this view somewhat, calling the alleged perpetrator a “violent extremist” and stated “terrorism knows no borders”.
Azar continued: “I want you to rest assured that we are safe, we are intact… neither us nor Romania will ever surrender to terrorism, we will continue working together for our peoples”.
The flag of Israel flies on a balcony of the apartment block in which the Israeli embassy is located in Bucharest, Romania, Monday, June 3, 2024. A foreign citizen was detained in Romania’s capital on Monday after allegedly attacking the entrance of the Israeli Embassy with a Molotov cocktail, causing a small fire but no casualties, local media and police reported. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
A member of the counterterrorism forces checks persons who try to enter a block of flats hosting the Embassy of Israel to Romania, in Bucharest on June 3, 2024. A man threw an incendiary device at the door to the Israeli embassy in Bucharest on Monday, authorities said, adding that investigations did not indicate a link to the Gaza war.
Romanian counterterrorism forces detained the 34-year-old man who “threatened to set himself on fire and attempted to cause damage with a Molotov cocktail,” a spokesman for the country’s intelligence services said.
Counterterrorism forces, on site to ensure security, extinguished the resulting fire, which caused no significant damage.
Media reported the man to be a Syrian national. (Photo by Daniel MIHAILESCU / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP via Getty Images)
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.