Syria’s Interior Ministry announced Saturday the arrest of five Hezbollah-linked terrorists who had planned to kill Damascus Rabbi Michael Khoury. One of the operatives, a woman, was observed attempting to “plant an explosive device in front of the house of a religious figure” near a church in the Bab Touma area in Damascus, according to the ministry’s statement. Security forces moved in to dismantle the device before it could detonate and detained all five members of the cell.

“Preliminary investigations revealed the cell’s link to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and that its members received specialized military training abroad,” the statement said.

Israel’s Kan public broadcaster said that, according to an anonymous Syrian source, Iran and Hezbollah are attempting to destabilize Syria, especially by encouraging anti-Israel protests, but the government’s rapid intervention to foil the attack on Saturday shows Syria’s commitment to protecting members of the Syrian Jewish community, who number all of nine people.