Turkiye reportedly arrested suspects in Israeli-Moldovan rabbi's killing in UAE as they left airport

A rabbi delivers a eulogy next to the coffin containing the remains of Israeli-Moldovan Rabbi Zvi Kogan in Kfar Chabad, Israel, on Monday, November 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -

Turkish security forces arrested the three Uzbek suspects in the killing of a rabbi in the United Arab Emirates as they left an airport in Istanbul, local media reported Wednesday.

The arrest of the Uzbeks suspected of killing Israeli-Moldovan Rabbi Zvi Kogan highlights the transnational nature of the attack.

While no motive has been offered, Iran has used criminal gangs in the past to target dissidents and its enemies. Already, Tehran has threatened to retaliate against Israel as the two countries have exchanged fire during the Mideast wars -- even as it has denied being involved in Kogan's killing.

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Both Istanbul police and Turkiye's National Intelligence Organization detained the men after determining which flight they arrived on, allowing them to leave the airport before pulling over their taxi, Turkiye's Hurriyet and Sabah newspapers reported. The men then were immediately extradited to the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The Emirati Foreign Ministry on Tuesday night separately thanked Turkiye for "for their cooperation in arresting the perpetrators," without elaborating.

Diplomatic relations between the UAE and Turkiye had been strained for a decade over their divergent views on Islamists in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring, but improved in recent years. Turkish first lady Emine Erdogan spoke Tuesday at the Global Women's Forum Dubai.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan has offered its first comment on the killings in a statement acknowledging a meeting between its foreign minister and the ambassador of Israel. The statement said Uzbekistan, a tightly controlled Central Asian country, was cooperating with both Israel and the UAE in the investigation into Kogan's killing.

"The people of Uzbekistan have always maintained a friendly attitude toward all representatives of religions and backgrounds," the statement said. "Uzbekistan has never tolerated and will never tolerate any form of nationalism. The meeting underscored that terrorism and extremism know no borders or nationality."

Kogan, 28, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who went missing on Nov. 21, managed a kosher grocery store in Dubai, where Israelis have flocked for commerce and tourism since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in the 2020 Abraham Accords.

The agreement has held through more than a year of soaring regional tensions unleashed by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel. But Israel's devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza and its invasion of Lebanon have stoked anger among Emiratis, Arab nationals and others living in the UAE.

Iran's Embassy in Abu Dhabi has denied Tehran was involved in the rabbi's slaying. However, Western officials believe Iran runs intelligence operations in the UAE and keeps tabs on the hundreds of thousands of Iranians living across the country. Iranian intelligence services also have carried out past kidnappings in the UAE.

While not directly blaming Iran, Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others have referred to an "axis of evil" being responsible for Kogan's killing -- a phrase Israel in the past has used to refer to Iran and its allies.