Four ambulances belonging to a Jewish community ambulance service in London were set on fire in what police are treating as an anti-Semitic hate crime.
Counter-terrorism police are leading the investigation and are considering a claim it was carried out by an Iranian-linked group.
Police said they received reports of explosions linked to gas canisters on the ambulances early on Monday. No one was injured and the fires in the car park next to Machzike Hadath Synagogue on Highfield Road, Golders Green, were put out. Residents were asked to leave nearby houses and roads in the area were closed.
Golders Green has a large Jewish community, with more than 30 synagogues.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the incident as “deeply shocking” and called for communities to “all stand together” in the face of the “horrific anti-Semitic attack”. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said the targeting of the volunteer service was “particularly sickening”.
People protesting against the Iranian regime attended outside the police cordon near Highfield Road.
Chants of “long live Iran”, “long live Israel”, and “IRGC terrorist – UK put them on the list” could be heard.
Police are looking for three hooded suspects and no arrests have yet been made.
Speaking at the scene of the fires, Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams said, who leads policing for the area, said the attack has not been declared as a terrorist incident at this stage, while officers examine the authenticity of a claim of responsibility made online.
He said: “We believe we are looking for three suspects at this early stage. CCTV footage appears to show three people in hoods pouring an accelerant on to the vehicles before igniting them and fleeing.
“We are aware of an online claim from a group taking responsibility for this attack. Establishing the authenticity and accuracy of this claim will be a priority for the investigation team but it is not something we can confirm at this point."
Responsibility for the attacks has been claimed by a new group calling itself Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, or Ashab al Yamin, which translates to the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right.
The social media activity was directed through channels linked to Iraqi Shiite militia groups that are aligned to Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
One of the channels has now claimed Ashab al Yamin is behind the arson and posted a message with the group's logo.
An unverified video posted at 6.13am on Monday on its Telegram channel showed street view Google Maps images of the ambulances and footage of explosions.
At the start of the video posted on Telegram, a message in English said the group’s primary target was the Machzike Hadath Synagogue due to its links to Israel.
Volunteers
The ambulances belonged to the volunteer-run charity Hatzola, which was established in 1979, providing medical transport free of charge for residents of North London.
Rabbi Mirvis condemned the incident in a statement on X. “The deliberate arson attacks against Hatzola ambulances in London are a particularly sickening assault – not only on the Jewish community, but on the values we share as a society,” he said. “Our Hatzola volunteer ambulance corps is an extraordinary service, whose sole mission is to protect life, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.
“The targeting of Hatzola by people so committed to terror, hatred and the desecration of life is a most painful illustration of the ongoing battle between those who sanctify life and those who seek to destroy it.”
He said the Jewish community would “meet this moment with shared resolve and stand together against hatred and intimidation”.
Shomrim, a non-profit organisation that operates a neighbourhood watch in Golders Green, said it was “aware of loud explosions” early on Monday morning. The fire brigade said about 40 firefighters were sent to the area where cylinders on the vehicles exploded, causing windows to break in nearby homes.
Golders Green ward councillor Dean Cohen, who was at the scene, told Jewish News it was “particularly chilling” that the incident happened in a synagogue car park. It will send “shock waves through our community at a time of already heightened fears over anti-Semitism in the UK”.
Community Security Trust, a charity that monitors anti-Semitism in the UK, said the attack “has obvious comparisons to similar anti-Semitic arson attacks recently in Belgium and the Netherlands”. Last week, The National reported that a fifth suspect was arrested by Dutch police as part of an investigation into an explosion at a synagogue.
The blast in Rotterdam followed an attack on a Jewish school in Amsterdam and the firebombing of a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liege.
Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, who is on a trip to San Francisco to meet the FBI, said the UK faces a “long and sustained threat” from Iranian plots, citing MI5 chief Sir Ken McCallum’s assessment that there were more than 20 Iranian-backed plots in the UK in the previous 12 months.
Mr Rowley said some had been targeted at members of the Iranian diaspora while other were against Israeli or Jewish targets.
Security around synagogues and Jewish schools has been increased since terrorist attack on a synagogue in Manchester in October. Three people were killed, including the attacker who was shot dead by police.
The government has since pledged to invest an extra £10m in security measures such as CCTV, alarms and floodlights.
Religious hate crime in the UK is at a record level, with figures showing that Jewish people are more targeted than any other group. According to the Community Security Trust, there were 3,700 anti-Jewish hate incidents recorded in 2025, a four per cent annual.
More than 6,000 incidents of anti-Muslim hate were recorded in 2024 by the monitoring agency Tell Mama, doubled the number of two years previously.
Earlier this month, the UK adopted a new definition of anti-Muslim hostility as part of a broader strategy to tackle rising hate crime.
The UK charity regulator will also receive new powers to address extremism and the promotion of hatred.
Communities Secretary Steve Reed said the government had a responsibility to respond to record levels of Islamophobia and was adopting a non-statutory definition of anti-Muslim hostility.
While the definition does not refer to Islamophobia by name, it designates anti-Muslim hostility as “intentionally engaging in, assisting or encouraging criminal acts … that are directed at Muslims because of their religion”.
