Daesh attacks in Israel stir concerns of a new security threat 

A series of deadly shootings in Israel has sparked a new security threat to the Jewish State, after the Daesh militant group has claimed responsibility for two of them.

On Tuesday, Israel was rocked by a third attack in a series of unclaimed attacks in just eight days, which left 11 dead.

A relatively small number of Palestinians and Arab citizens in Israel joined the organisation before its defeat in Syria in 2019.

The weakened organisation received the last blow last February, when the United States announced the killing of its leader, Abu Ibrahim Al-Qurashi, during an airdrop operation carried out by a US commando unit in north-western Syria.

Last week, two policemen, a French and Israeli policewoman, and a Druze policeman, both aged 19, were killed in an attack in the northern city of Hadera, whose perpetrators came from the Arab city of Umm Al-Fahm inside Israel.

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The city’s Mayor, Samir Mahamid, said he was shocked by the presence of Daesh elements in the city, acknowledging the proliferation of weapons in the city. However, he noted that this is not specific to the city, but is widely common in other cities, whether in Israel or in the occupied West Bank.

Mahamid attributed the incident to organised crime, warning that “these weapons will be directed in the future to another place”.

In the aftermath of the Hadera attack, the Israeli police raided the home of one of the perpetrators, where they found materials related to Daesh.

A security source told AFP that one of the two attackers had previously been arrested in 2015, before travelling to Syria.