Turkish authorities are investigating whether Tuesday’s attack outside the Israeli Consulate in Istanbul was carried out by Islamic State (ISIS) militants or by Iran-linked operatives, as competing lines of inquiry emerge following the incident.
The attack took place around noon on Tuesday in the area outside the building that houses the Israeli Consulate. According to Turkish broadcaster NTV, three attackers were involved. One of them was killed after Turkish police opened fire, while the other two were arrested.
Two Turkish police officers were also lightly injured during the incident, authorities said.
The assault comes at a time of heightened security activity in Turkey. Before the attack, Turkish police had launched a new operation against an ISIS cell. In a separate development, Turkish security forces reportedly clashed for several hours with an ISIS-linked group in the Yalova district shortly before the Istanbul incident.
Turkish sources who spoke to The Levant Files on condition of anonymity said the first indications suggest the attack in Istanbul may have been an ISIS operation. According to those sources, the extremist group has recently been trying to regroup in Iraq and Syria and restore some of the prestige and operational relevance it lost in recent years.
However, the same sources also pointed to two major reservations about that assessment.
First, ISIS is not known for regularly targeting Israeli sites. During the Syrian civil war, the group concentrated mainly on Iraq and Syria, while attacks linked to the organization inside Turkey were generally directed at Turkish, Kurdish, or Western-related targets rather than Israeli facilities.
Second, Turkish intelligence has been on heightened alert over the possibility of attacks by Iran-linked groups in both Turkey and Northern Cyprus since the start of the recent U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran. According to the sources, Turkish security agencies have been closely monitoring Iran sympathizers and affiliated networks for possible attacks on sensitive targets.
The investigation is ongoing, and Turkish authorities have not yet publicly identified the group behind the attack. For now, officials appear to be examining both an ISIS connection and the possibility of involvement by Iran-aligned actors.