Kuwait Arrests Three ISIS Members Over Alleged Mosque, Facility Attack Plot

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Kuwait arrested three members of an Islamic State (ISIS) cell accused of plotting attacks against a Shia mosque and other sites considered vital to the country, a Kuwaiti security source told AFP on Thursday.

The three suspects belonged to a single ISIS cell and included minors, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The group allegedly planned to target the mosque as well as unspecified vital facilities.

The arrests followed a series of security operations announced by Kuwait's Interior Ministry this week. Earlier, the ministry said it had detained two minors who had been communicating with ISIS and had received training in making explosives to attack a place of worship.

A day later, authorities announced the arrest of a Kuwaiti ISIS member accused of building a drone intended to attack a "vital facility."

The latest arrests highlight continuing concerns among Gulf states over the ability of extremist networks to recruit and operate domestically, particularly amid the broader security crisis triggered by the ongoing Middle East war.

Kuwait's History With ISIS Threat

Kuwait has previously been targeted by ISIS in one of the country's deadliest terrorist attacks in modern history.

On June 26, 2015, a suicide bomber affiliated with ISIS detonated an explosive vest inside the Imam al-Sadiq Mosque in Kuwait City during Friday prayers. The attack killed 27 people and wounded 227 others, according to Kuwait's official news agency. IS claimed responsibility for the bombing, which targeted the country's Shia Muslim community.

The attack was particularly significant because Kuwait had largely avoided the sectarian violence that had spread across parts of the region following the rise of ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Human Rights Watch described it at the time as the first such sectarian attack in Kuwait.

Kuwaiti authorities subsequently launched a sweeping investigation into the attack. In September 2015, a criminal court sentenced seven defendants to death over their roles in the bombing, while eight others received prison sentences and 14 were acquitted.

The threat did not end with the 2015 bombing. In July 2016, Kuwait announced that security agencies had foiled several ISIS plots, including a plan by a Kuwaiti national to bomb a Jaafari mosque and a Ministry of Interior facility. Authorities said the suspect had pledged allegiance to ISIS and had received instructions from an ISIS figure abroad.

The history has made sectarian attacks against places of worship a particularly sensitive security issue for Kuwait, where the Shia community constitutes a substantial part of the population.

Regional Security Pressures

Kuwait's latest arrests come as Gulf countries have faced heightened security pressures since the start of the Middle East war.

According to the Kuwaiti security source, Gulf states including Kuwait have detained dozens of people suspected of links to Iran, many of them Shia Muslims, as the region came under Iranian bombardment.

The developments underscore the complicated sectarian and geopolitical dynamics facing Gulf governments. Kuwait's population is predominantly Sunni, while roughly one-third of its citizens are Shia Muslims, a community with longstanding political, economic and social ties within the country.

The authorities therefore face the dual challenge of countering genuine extremist threats while preventing security measures from aggravating sectarian tensions.

The latest ISIS-related arrests also come against the backdrop of renewed confrontation between Iran, the United States and their respective regional partners. For Gulf states, the conflict has created an increasingly complex security environment in which threats from state actors, armed groups and extremist organizations can overlap.

Although ISIS lost the vast territorial control it once held in Iraq and Syria, the group has retained clandestine networks and the ability to inspire or direct attacks through small cells and individual recruits.

The alleged involvement of minors in the latest Kuwaiti case underscores continuing concerns over extremist recruitment and online radicalization.

For Kuwait, which lies between Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran and hosts a significant US military presence, preventing militant attacks on religious sites and critical infrastructure remains a central national-security priority.

The latest arrests suggest that, despite the territorial defeat of ISIS, the threat posed by its clandestine networks and recruitment efforts remains a concern for Gulf states already navigating an increasingly volatile regional security landscape.