Manchester synagogue attack: British citizen of Syrian descent behind stabbing incident | 10 points

Jihad Al-Shamie was shot dead by armed officers after he ploughed a car into a crowd outside the synagogue and stabbed two people during Yom Kippur.

A British citizen of Syrian descent has been identified as the suspect behind the deadly stabbing incident outside a synagogue in Manchester in northern England, which left two people dead and four others injured.

Ambulance incident workers process the body of a man, believed to be the attacker, at the scene, after a report of an incident in which a car was driven at pedestrians and a stabbing attack outside a synagogue, in north Manchester, Britain. REUTERS/Hannah McKay (REUTERS)

The British authorities have called the stabbing “a terrorist attack”, which came on the holiest day of the Jewish year. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, in a video message, said Britain must defeat rising antisemitism and promised to do everything in his power to protect Britain's Jews.

Here is all you need to know about the stabbing attack at Manchester synagogue:

⦁ The suspect behind the attack is believed to be Jihad al-Shamie, who is a British citizen of Syrian descent. He entered the UK as a young child and became a British citizen in 2006, according to the Associated Press.

⦁ The two victims were Jewish and four others have been injured in the incident.

⦁ The police has said that three suspects, including a woman in her 60s, are currently in custody. They have been arrested on "suspicion of commission, preparation and instigation of acts of terrorism," the police said.

⦁ The suspect was wearing a "vest which had the appearance of an explosive device". However, police later confirmed that the suspect did not have a bomb.

⦁ An initial check showed that Al-Shamie was not part of the British counter-terror programme that tries to identify people at the risk of being radicalised, the Associated Press reported.

⦁ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the "barbaric attack" and said Israel grieves with the Jewish community in the UK.

⦁ The authorities are still working to identify the victims and determine the motive behind the attack.

⦁ UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was in Denmark, left early to chair an emergency meeting in London and announced that the security was been tightened at UK synagogues.

⦁ The attack was one of the worst antisemitic attacks in Europe since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which started the Gaza war. Antisemitic incidents in the UK have hit record levels following the Gaza war as more than 1,500 incidents were reported in the first half of the year, according to Community Security Trust, an advocacy group which works for British Jews.