Two teenagers are being held by police over an arson attack on a synagogue in north-west London.

A bottle containing a type of accelerant was thrown through the window of Kenton United Synagogue on Shaftesbury Avenue, Kenton, at about midnight on Sunday. Minor damage was caused to the building, although no injuries were reported.

The Met’s deputy commissioner Matt Jukes told the BBC on Monday that a 17-year-old boy and 19-year-old man were detained overnight.

A total of 15 people have been arrested and seven people charged over a series of recent attacks on targets in London linked to Jewish communities, or those who oppose the Iranian regime.

The Met’s counter-terrorism unit is investigating six separate incidents in recent weeks, on:

Most of these assaults appear to have been claimed by the group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia – or the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right.

The group appears to have posted a series of social media videos linking it with the incidents in north London as well as many similar attacks against Jewish targets across Europe.

The Met has said it was investigating the authenticity of the claims.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Jukes described the series of attacks as “part of the modern hybrid war fought by proxies”.

Asked whether he thought they may have been committed by local offenders recruited by Iran, he said: “I think that’s a very serious line of inquiry in relation to these events, we’ve seen a pattern… people taking cash, as it looks like quick and easy money.”

Juke also said he believed social media platforms should do more to prevent young people being exposed to antisemitic posts shared online.

“We will continue to work hard on the online space.

“It is a job for the wider security, intelligence services and counter-terrorism policing.

“But it’s also something we think that the platforms could contribute more to, because there is online sharing and promulgation of antisemitic conspiracy theories.”

During a visit to the Finchley Reform Synagogue on Monday afternoon, security minister Dan Jarvis said: “We will have to see where the police investigation takes us, but that is clearly a point of very significant concern, and the government will make sure that we have got the right policy and legislative framework to crack down on groups such as this.”

He added: “The attacks that we’ve seen in recent times are completely abhorrent and unacceptable, and we will move heaven and earth to make sure that people feel properly supported.”

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