Islamic terrorism may be undergoing a resurgence in the U.S., energized in part by the latest conflict in the Middle East.
According to a U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security terror threat assessment report published last year, there were over 50 jihadist cases in 30 states between April 2021 and June 2025, including vehicle ramming attacks and efforts to provide material support to ISIS.
Last year, for instance, started off with the slaughter of 14 Americans and the grievous injury of scores of additional victims in New Orleans by Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a radical whom the FBI revealed had pledged allegiance to ISIS.
‘This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the prophet.’
The perennial threat of violence by adherents of Islamist ideology do not appear to be letting up — and if the rash of attacks and attempted attacks that have already occurred this month are any indication, the reverse might be true.
New York
A pair of Pennsylvania residents with alleged ties to radical Islam — Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi — were arrested on March 7 after two homemade improvised explosive devices were ignited near anti-Islam protesters outside Gracie Mansion in New York City.
“This was an alleged ISIS-inspired act of terrorism that could have killed American citizens,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.
Department of Justice
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche noted, “These men allegedly sought to inflict mass casualties in service to ISIS with the hope of exceeding the carnage of the Boston Marathon bombing.”
An FBI examination of the explosive devices revealed that “they were each approximately the size of a mason jar; that they each had an attached fuse; and that they each had nuts and bolts attached to the exterior, surrounded by duct tape,” according to the criminal complaint.
The first device contained “TATP, a highly volatile explosive that is colloquially known as the ‘Mother of Satan’ and extremely sensitive to impact, friction, and heat. TATP has been used in multiple terrorist attacks over the last decade,” the DOJ press release said.
According to the complaint, Balat allegedly told police after his arrest, “This isn’t a religion that just stands when people talk about the blessed name of the prophet. … We take action! We take action!”
After arriving at the precinct, Balat allegedly requested a piece of paper and wrote, “All praise is due to Allah lord of all worlds! I pledge my allegiance to the Islamic State. Die in your rage yu [sic] kuffar!”
Kuffar or kafir is a derogatory Arabic term for a non-Muslim, an alternate to “infidel,” used by radicals including Muhammad Masood — a Pakistani doctor who worked for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, New York, and pleaded guilty in 2022 to attempting to provide ISIS with material support.
Virginia
On Thursday, an American who pleaded guilty in 2016 to similarly attempting to provide material support to ISIS opened fire on ROTC students in a classroom at Virginia’s Old Dominion University.
‘The unit is responsible for launching hundreds of rockets.’
Before heroic students subdued Mohamed Bailor Jalloh and “rendered him no longer alive,” the 36-year-old shooter killed Lt. Col. Brandon Shah, a professor of military science at Old Dominion’s Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.
Dominique Evans, an FBI special agent, said that “prior to him conducting this act of terrorism, he shouted … or stated ‘Allahu akbar.'”
Authorities said that Jalloh admitted in 2016 to carrying out an attack similar to the Fort Hood massacre where Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. citizen whose radicalization to violent Islamist extremism was reportedly clear to his superiors and peers, murdered 12 U.S. service members and one Pentagon civilian employee.
Michigan
Just hours later on March 12, a Lebanese native rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel, a Detroit-area Reform synagogue with a preschool and religious education school on-site. Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, the suspect who reportedly killed himself when confronted by security personnel, appears at the very least to have been associated with Islamic terrorists.
Officials have confirmed that Ghazali, who was granted U.S. citizenship in February 2016, lost family members — including two brothers, Qassem and Ibrahim — in the recent Israeli military strikes in Lebanon.
The Israel Defense Forces alleged in a statement on Sunday that Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah commander “responsible for managing weapons operations within a specialized branch of the Badr Unit. The unit is responsible for launching hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilians throughout the war.”
Hassan Qazwini, the leader of the Islamic Institute of America in Dearborn Heights, told the New York Times that Ghazali attended a service at his center for the first time earlier this month.
Dearborn appears to have incubated a great many other Islamic radicals over the years.
‘There were indicators.’
On Oct. 31, 2025, for instance, the FBI arrested a pair of Dearborn residents, Mohmed Ali and Majed Mahmoud, for allegedly planning to carry out a terrorist attack on behalf of ISIS. Ayob Nasser was later arrested and charged in connection with the alleged plot.
The trio — each of whom has been charged with conspiring to provide material support to ISIS as well as with having firearms that would be used to commit an act of terrorism on behalf of the jihadist terrorist organization — allegedly scouted the nearby city of Ferndale for possible targets.
Texas
In the early hours of March 1, a suspect armed with a pistol and a rifle opened fire outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin, killing two individuals and wounding 14 others.
The man whom authorities identified as the shooter, 53-year-old Ndiaga Diagne, shot at patrons outside the bar through the window of an SUV. He then parked the vehicle nearby and opened fire with a rifle on unsuspecting pedestrians.
Police intercepted the gunman, then permanently neutralized the threat.
Photo (center): Austin Police Department; Photo (background): FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
The FBI indicated that “there were indicators … on the subject and in his vehicle that indicate potential nexus to terrorism,” and a law enforcement official told CNN that the dead suspect was wearing a shirt with an Iranian flag design on it as well as a hoodie emblazoned with the text, “Property of Allah.”
A Quran was reportedly also recovered from Diagne’s vehicle.
Diagne entered the U.S. from Senegal on a B-2 tourist visa in March 2000 and was naturalized in April 2013, seven years after his marriage to an American citizen. Over 97% of the Senegalese population identify as Muslim.
There was another incident earlier this month in the Lone Star State that had all of the markings of another potential tragedy.
Kyle Najm Chris, a 39-year-old Iraqi native who also goes by Muhi Mohanan Najm, entered Zwink Elementary School in Spring, Texas, through an unsecured door on March 10, allegedly armed with a holstered firearm and a taser and wearing military attire, reported KHOU-TV.
The Klein Independent School District said in a statement that when confronted by an employee and asked for identification, Chris — who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2022 and reportedly has no affiliation with either the school or the district — allegedly declined to identify himself. Staff contacted the school’s armed campus guard, and Chris, barred from entering deeper into the school on account of its “secure vestibule” system, left without incident.
Chris has been arrested and charged with felony possession of a prohibited weapon. He allegedly told authorities that he was a security guard, but court records reviewed by KRIV-TV show that the Iraqi native is currently unemployed and holds neither a security license nor a peace officer certification.
A neighbor told KTRK-TV that Chris is a veteran and suggested that this might be a misunderstanding.
Europe
In recent days, there have been multiple potential Islamist terrorist attacks in other Western nations.
On March 8, an IED was placed outside the U.S. embassy in Oslo, Norway. The blast caused minor damage and resulted in no injuries, reported the BBC.
Three brothers, all Norwegian citizens in their 20s with links to Iraq, were arrested in connection with the attack. Their mother was later arrested on suspicion of involvement with the attack. Frode Larsen, head of the Oslo police investigation unit, said that the bombing — which is being treated as a likely terrorism attack — may have been linked to the conflict unfolding in the Middle East, reported CBS News.
On March 9, an explosion went off outside the main doors of a synagogue in the Belgian city of Liège on March 9. The blast reportedly inflicted only minor damage and resulted in no injuries. Nevertheless, a group calling itself the Islamic Movement of the Companions of the Right reportedly claimed responsibility for the Liège bombing.
French police reportedly stopped a pair of Moroccan-Italian nationals last week whom they suspect were plotting a “lethal and anti-Semitic” attack. The suspects were found to be in the possession of a semi-automatic weapon, a bottle of hydrochloric acid, and an ISIS flag.
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Iran, Lebanon, Middle east, Islam, Islamic, Muslim, Terrorism, Extremism, Attacks, Virginia, Texas, New york, Michigan, Synagogue, Anti-semitic, Old dominion, Fort hood, Violence, Politics
