Serbia Raises Terror Alert to Highest Level After Killing Attacker at Israeli Embassy

Serbia's Interior Ministry raised the country's terror threat level to the highest setting after police killed an assailant who attacked an officer outside the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade just after midnight on Wednesday. Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said police were treating the incident as a "terrorist attack" and had increased officer presence at key locations across the country.

Dacic identified the assailant as a minor carrying two knives who struck a member of the Gendarmerie, an elite unit assigned to the embassy, while shouting "Allahu Akbar." The guard sustained a facial wound and shot the attacker in self-defense, according to Dacic. Police photos from the scene showed the guard's booth and surrounding area cordoned off with tape while armed officers stood nearby.

The assailant was believed to come from Sabac, a town in western Serbia, Dacic said. He added that Serbian security agencies had been monitoring the individual, whom he described as an Islamic State supporter. "He kept the black flag in support of the Islamic State on his Instagram" account, Dacic said.

The attack occurred three days after Serbia held an early parliamentary election on Sunday in which former President Aleksandar Vucic, who had ruled for years, was defeated by a youth-led movement following nearly two years of protests. Vucic and his allies retain control of the police while a new government remains unformed. Israel also held a parliamentary vote on Tuesday that exit polls showed produced no clear winner.

An attacker using a crossbow wounded a Serbian police officer guarding the same embassy in June 2024; the officer shot and killed that assailant. The Israeli Embassy sits in an upscale Belgrade district not far from the U.S. Embassy and is guarded by an elite police unit whose officers carry automatic weapons. Serbia has maintained close relations with Israel.