Hezbollah Prepared to Hold the US Hostage
A Middle East terrorism expert has warned that Iran may use a terrorist group to strike the United States if it becomes threatened. “If Iran’s regime is in trouble, either from the outside or even from a democratic uprising, it may order Hezbollah to attack the U.S.” said Dr. Walid Phares during an appearance on FOX News last week.
This reiterates what Hezbollah themselves have said. “We have 2,000 volunteers who have registered since last year,” Hezbollah spokesman Mojtaba Bigdeli told Reuters in a 2006 interview. “They have been trained and they can become fully armed. We are ready to dispatch them to every corner of the world to jeopardize Israel and America’s interests. We are only waiting for the supreme leader’s green light to take action. If America wants to ignite World War III … we welcome it.”
While many in the U.S. are concerned with al Qaeda, the Lebanese-based and Iranian-funded Hezbollah poses the greater threat. Excluding the 9/11 attacks, Hezbollah has killed more Americans than any other terrorist group. Phares has stated previously that Hezbollah is “well funded, very well organized, and we assume that their penetration of the U.S. is deeper than al Qaeda’s.
In addition to their activity in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, Hezbollah is operating in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, and other countries in Central and South America.
Following news in 2006 that Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad met with Hezbollah’s military commander Imad Mugniyeh (who until his death would have likely commanded attacks against Western targets), investigations were conducted on Hezbollah cells in 14 U.S. cities. FBI and Justice Department probes revealed about a dozen hard-core supporters of Hezbollah in New York City alone. Another cell was discovered in Detroit, which has become the center for Hezbollah’s fundraising operations. San Antonio reportedly has Hezbollah-linked groups as well.
There have been multiple instances in recent years where personnel from the Iranian mission to the United Nations were expelled for monitoring New York City subways, bridges, tunnels, and other potential targets. According to testimony from former CIA director James Woolsey, Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “says that he knows of the 29 sensitive sites in the U.S. and the west which he has spied out and is ready to attack in order to, quote: ‘End Anglo-Saxon civilization.’”
It is likely that the attacks Ahmadinejad mentions would be executed by members of Hezbollah.
In 2000, members of a North Carolina cell were convicted for providing “material support” to Hezbollah. In addition to sending profits from a cigarette smuggling ring to Hezbollah, one group member was ordered by a Hezbollah member in Lebanon to obtain night-vision equipment, surveying equipment, global positioning systems, mine detectors, radar, and other dual-use technology to send to Lebanon.
In Canada, intelligence officials disclosed that Hezbollah mobilized as many as four of their sleeper cells following Mugniyeh’s assassination last year. Up to 20 Hezbollah suspects were tracked as they conducted reconnaissance on synagogues and the Israeli embassy in Ottawa. Members of the cells were also instructed to send their family members back to Lebanon. Toronto has become a hub of activity for Hezbollah, despite the Canadian government declaring Hezbollah a terrorist organization in 2002.
A federal indictment recently revealed that Hezbollah is trafficking weapons in Mexico. The indictment alleges that in 2008 a Hezbollah member with a weapons cache in Mexico had offered to sell the weapons to the Colombian narco-terrorist group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The weapons – which included military rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, plastic explosives, and surface-to-air missiles – had been stolen from Iraq.
If Hezbollah’s weapons can go south, what is to stop them from being brought into the U.S. through a porous border?
In 2006, FBI director Robert Mueller confirmed that the FBI busted a Hezbollah cell that smuggled operatives across the Mexican border. In 2001, Mahmoud Kourani, who according to his indictment is a Hezbollah “member, fighter, recruiter and fund-raiser,” illegally entered the U.S. through Mexico before being convicted for providing material support to Hezbollah. Kourani’s brother is Hezbollah’s chief of military security in Lebanon.
Hezbollah operatives also infiltrate the U.S. through the Canada. An associate of Kourani smuggled 20 to 30 Hezbollah members into the U.S. across the Canadian border.
In South America, the strategic partnership between Iran and Venezuela have provided a base of operations for Hezbollah activity in the Western Hemisphere. Venezuelan cells are part of the “Special Operations Command,” the group tasked with overseas attacks, such as the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina and another bombing in 1994 of a Jewish community center in the same city. U.S. Treasury officials alleged last year that two Venezuelans had “facilitated the travel” of Hezbollah members and “discussed operational issues with senior officials” of the terrorist group. The import of operatives and material were further eased as the State Department noted that Venezuelan border officials in the airport did not stamp passports and rarely entered passengers into the immigration database.
Hezbollah operatives and equipment could reach South America through Venezuela, migrate to the U.S. through Mexico, and await their orders from Teheran.
Although Hezbollah has not yet attacked targets in the U.S., the terrorist group clearly has the capability, and has announced their intention to strike. Their presence on our soil serves to hold the American people hostage with the threat of terrorist attacks in order to protect Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Therefore, it is essential that America become increasingly vigilant in order to stop the threat from Hezbollah.