Queens Man Is One of Two Accused of Trying to Supply Hezbollah

A Queens man hailed as a hero for rescuing a woman from a crazed cabbie in 2007 is one of two men who have been indicted on charges that they tried to provide the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon with weapons, ammunition and vehicles.

The men, Patrick Nayyar of Flushing and Conrad Stanisclaus Mulholland, agreed to sell guns, ammunition, vehicles, bullet-resistant vests and night vision goggles to a man who represented himself as a member of Hezbollah but was an F.B.I. informant, officials said.

Mr. Nayyar was in custody on Tuesday. Mr. Mulholland remained at large, according to prosecutors who believe he is currently in Britain, an official said.

Because Mr. Nayyar was hailed as a hero in The Daily News for having rescued a woman in a dispute with a cabdriver in 2007, his lawyer, Martin L. Schmukler said, “This doesn’t sound like real terrorism to me. This sounds like an investigation gone wild.”

In a series of meetings between July and September, Mr. Nayyar, 45, and Mr. Mulholland, 43, “provided the confidential informant with a handgun, a box of ammunition and a pickup truck, believing that the confidential informant would deliver the items” to the militant group in Lebanon, according to a statement from Preet Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.

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Hezbollah May Be Planning Attacks On U.S. and Israeli Targets

According to a leading Turkish news website, Hezbollah is planning attacks against possible targets that include American, Israeli institutions, synagogues and tourist destinations. The planned attacks are said to be in retaliation for assassination of a senior Hezbollah member in 2008.

Intelligence agencies warn against terror attacks planned by Hezbollah  against Israeli and American targets in Turkey, according to a report published on the Turkish news website “Haberturk”.

According to the report, Hezbollah is looking to attack Israeli tourists, Israeli vessels and airplanes, as well as synagogues in Turkey. Citizens are asked to take the necessary precautions.

In addition, Turkish police warned its units in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, saying Hezbollah might have already gathered intelligence ahead of a possible attack on Israeli and American institutions in the three major cities.

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Chertoff Warns On Hezbollah Threat

Hezbollah could surpass Al-Qaeda as the most serious long-term threat to the United States, the former head of homeland security Michael Chertoff is to warn in a book published later this year.

Chertoff — who for four years headed efforts to prevent a repeat of the attacks of September 11, 2001 — alleges Hezbollah is better equipped, better trained and better politically positioned than Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.

“Al-Qaeda and its network are our most serious immediate threat, they may not be our most serious long-term threat,” Chertoff writes in a book to be published in September, a draft of which was obtained by AFP.

“Having operated for more than a quarter-century, (Hezbollah) has developed capabilities that Al-Qaeda can only dream of, including large quantities of missiles and highly sophisticated explosives.”

Chertoff says the group, whose Arabic name means the “Party of God,” also has “uniformly well trained operatives, an exceptionally well-disciplined force of nearly 30,000 fighters, and extraordinary political influence.”

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Egypt Terror Cell Planned To Strike In Tel Aviv

Members of the Hizbullah cell uncovered in Egypt planned to carry out terror attacks inside Israel, Egyptian daily Almasry Alyoum reported on Thursday.

According to the report, two of the cell’s members are Fatah operatives, who confessed to having planned to enter Israel and carry out massive suicide attacks, “maybe even in Tel Aviv”.

Number of security patrols increased along Israel-Egypt border, police checkpoints reinforced to prevent illegal crossings after Cairo detained group allegedly linked to Hizbullah, Egyptian defense sources say

Sources close to the investigation told the newspaper that two Fatah members, Muhammad Ramadan Barakeh and Nidal Fathi Hassan were arrested under suspicion of ties with the Hizbullah cell.

Egyptian security forces arrested the two in Sinai a few weeks ago, while they were making their way to one of the underground tunnels leading into Gaza.

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Egyptian Forces In Sinai On High Alert For Hezbollah Terror

Egyptian forces in the Sinai Peninsula have been put on high alert in recent days following the arrest of a Hezbollah spy network operating on Egyptian soil, reported the Cairo-based Egyptian newspaper Almasry Alyoum. Egyptian officials fear other Hezbollah-linked activists are still at large and operating in Sinai, and may try to carry out terrorist attacks on Egyptian territory.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak commented on the arrests for the first time during a telephone conversation with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora yesterday, telling the pro-Western politician that Egypt will not allow foreign factions to undermine its sovereignty. He added that the Egyptian justice system will deal with the groups that Hezbollah ran inside Egypt.

The verbal blows and counterattacks between Egypt and Hezbollah escalated yesterday, with the al-Gomhouria newspaper calling Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, a “monkey sheikh” in its main editorial. The editorial, written by editor Mohamed Ali Ibrahim, covered the front page and carried the headline “A criminal who knows no repentance” over a picture of Nasrallah. “I say to you what every Egyptian knows, that you are an Iranian party,” Ibrahim wrote. “Are there instructions from Iran to drag Egypt into a conflict?”

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Hezbollah Uses Mexican Drug Routes Into U.S.

Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S. law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say.

The Iran-backed Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America’s tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S. Read more

Israel Issues Terror Warning

Israel’s counter-terrorism bureau warned Sunday night of a “concrete, high-level threat” that the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group planned an attack against Israelis to avenge the February 2008 assassination of Imad Mughniyah, its deputy leader. “The Hezbollah organization is apparently prepared to carry out a serious attack (assassination, kidnapping) against an Israeli target, including abroad. This attack threatens every Israeli, especially those holding senior position,” a statement from the counter-terrorism bureau said.

The statement warned Israelis travelling overseas to take precautions, and to avoid visiting countries the bureau has warned against.

Israelis abroad should be on the alert and avoid, for example, tempting offers, whether for business or pleasure, from suspicious or unfamiliar persons, and should refrain from unscheduled meetings in remote areas after dark.

Israelis staying abroad for long periods of time should also vary their routine, for example by changing hotels or switching between restaurants and other venues visited frequently.

Report: Massive Hezbollah Terror Attack Against Israeli Target In Europe Thwarted

A massive terror attack against an Israeli target in Europe has been thwarted in recent weeks, Channel 2 quoted security officials as saying Wednesday.

The attack, linked to the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, was foiled thanks to intelligence sharing between Israel and an undisclosed European country.

Israeli officials believe that as the one year anniversary of the February 14 assassination of Hezbollah second-in-command Imad Mughniyeh approaches, attempts to attack Israeli targets around the world will intensify.

Some two weeks ago, the Times of London reported that a Hezbollah plot to attack the Israeli embassy in Azerbaijan was foiled last year, after Azeri Intelligence discovered the plot.

Azeri intelligence authorities reportedly first caught wind of the plot weeks after Mughniyeh was killed by a car bomb in Damascus.

Hezbollah’s 1800 Unit is reportedly working on possible attacks inside Israel.

Hezbollah leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, said: “The Zionists will discover that the war they had in July was a walk in the park if we compare it to what we’ve prepared for every new aggression,” the Times reported.

The report also stated that the Egyptian intelligence broke up a Sinai-based Hezbollah cell headed by Sami Shehab, a Lebanese citizen. The cell, which also included Palestinians members, had allegedly planned to attack Israeli targets.

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U.S. Officials Worry Terrorists Could Align With Drug Cartels

There is real danger that Islamic extremist groups such as al-Qaeda and Hezbollah could form alliances with wealthy and powerful Latin American drug lords to launch new terrorist attacks, U.S. officials said Wednesday. Read more

Israel On High Alert For Mass-casualty Terror Attack

Israel’s military has been placed on high alert following an airline bomb scare and reports of other threats.

Officials said the intelligence community has warned of an imminent attack by either Al Qaida or Hizbullah against Israel. They said the Islamic insurgency could be planning the hijacking of an Israeli passenger jet that would then be crashed into an Israeli residential area.

“There is an assessment that something very bad will take place over the next few weeks, perhaps over the Jewish holidays,” an official said.

On Sept. 24, the Israeli military was ordered on high alert following a bomb scare involving an El Al passenger jet. Security officials received information that a bomb had been placed on plane scheduled to arrive at Ben-Gurion International Airport from Paris that evening.
World Tribune — Israel on high alert for mass-casualty strikes

Hezbollah Smuggling Drugs, Weapons Into US Aboard Mini Subs?

The waters in the Caribbean and around Latin America for a long time have provided a path for illicit drugs to flow into the United States, but the U.S. Navy has increased its patrols in the region now looking for something else… Hezbollah terrorists, according to a report from World Net Daily..

The Navy, in trolling for mini-submarines sometimes used to transport drugs, has discovered that some of them apparently are being operated by Hezbollah.

The mini-subs are small semi-submersibles, made of fiberglass and capable of carrying up to four people plus a payload. They are popular with drug smugglers, and now the U.S. is concerned elements of Hezbollah have begun using them for drug-running or smuggling weapons.

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National Terror Alert published a post last month that explained the danger these drug subs present. You can read the article here.

Hezbollah In Venezuela Worries Anti-terrorism Officials

Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations.

Linked to deadly attacks on Jewish targets in Argentina in the early 1990s, Hezbollah may be taking advantage of Venezuela’s ties with Iran, the militia’s longtime sponsor, to move “people and things” into the Americas, as one Western government terrorism expert put it. Read more

Hezbollah Training Hit Squads In Iran: U.S.

Iraqi Shiite assassination teams are being trained in at least four locations in Iran by Tehran’s elite Quds force and Lebanese Hezbollah and are planning to return to Iraq in the next few months to kill specific Iraqi officials as well as U.S. and Iraqi troops, according to intelligence gleaned from captured militia fighters and other sources in Iraq.

A senior U.S. military intelligence officer in Baghdad described the information Thursday in an interview with The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence. Read more