The risk is increasing that Hezbollah terrorists could launch some form of attack on American soil, according to a new report.
In recent days, Israel has ramped up its attacks on the Lebanon-based terror group, which has responded in kind by shelling communities across northern Israel.
As diplomats try to contain the situation from leading to an expansion of the ongoing war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the Wednesday report from Politico — which cited intelligence officials it did not name — said failure to do so could mean Americans are at an increased risk.
Politico said U.S. bases and personnel in the Middle East likely would be the first targets if the Iran-backed terrorist group wanted to ratchet up violence against Americans.
The report said diplomatic and military personnel would be at risk from Hezbollah strikes.
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An attack on U.S. soil also be in the works if tensions are not reined in, the intelligence officials said.
“Hezbollah could draw on the capability they have … to put people [in] places to do something,” one official told Politico.
“It is something to be worried about,” the official said.
Politico noted that Hezbollah includes the Islamic Jihad Organization, which was behind the 1983 attack on a Marine barracks in Lebanon that killed 63 people.
American Intel Officials Warn of possible Hezbollah attacks in the United States.
Iran and all their backed Terror affiliates have made it very clear they want to destroy the United States and Israel.
No one is dumb enough to think otherwise. SO you have to ask yourself why… https://t.co/jL65N2mBO8 pic.twitter.com/8JTM9rwJwK
— In God We Trust – Matthew 13:15 (@oldschoolethos) January 11, 2024
U.S. officials have said Hezbollah is a threat to be taken seriously.
“Iran, Hezbollah and their linked proxies are trying to calibrate their activity, avoiding actions that would open up a concerted second front with the United States or Israel while still exacting costs in the midst of the current conflict,” Christy Abizaid, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told a Senate panel in October.
“The arrests of individuals in the United States allegedly linked to Hezbollah’s main overseas terrorist arm, and their intelligence-collection and procurement efforts, demonstrate Hezbollah’s interest in long-term contingency planning activities here in the homeland,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress a month later, according to Politico.
In remarks prepared for a Senate hearing last year that are posted on the FBI’s website, Wray said Hezbollah, as “Iran’s primary strategic partner, has a history of seeding operatives and infrastructure, obtaining money and weapons, and spying in this country going back years.”
As noted by Newsweek, Hezbollah is not the only group that poses a potential threat.
The Iraq-based Nujaba Movement has vowed to repay death with death after a drone strike killed one of its leaders.
“We know who carried out this terrorist act — they are the American forces — and the response will be very harsh and earth-shattering,” a representative of the group said.
