Thomas Fuentes, the FBI’s special agent in charge of International Operations, noted in 2007 that Hizballah is reluctant to launch violent attacks on U.S. soil because it would hinder their overall operations: “They want to maintain a low profile by engaging in criminal activity [but] not direct attacks….They’ve not been enthusiastic about doing it on US soil because of the attention and reaction that would occur.”
That may be changing now.
“Feds: Dearborn man was a trained bomb maker for terror group,” by Tresa Baldas, Detroit Free Press, June 8, 2017:
One week after the FBI raided a Dearborn home in the middle of the night, a new terrorism case surfaced in New York on Thursday involving two men: a Dearborn man who allegedly received bomb-making training from a terror group and another man who allegedly plotted attacks on New York.
Samer el Debek, 37, of Dearborn and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx were arrested a week ago and charged with training and working on behalf of Hizballah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization based in Lebanon.
“FBI bomb technicians have assessed that el Debek received extensive training as a bomb-maker,” the Justice Department stated.
The charges were unsealed in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, one week after federal agents raided a Dearborn home in what they described as an operation involving national security. Sources familiar with the case tell the Free Press the raid involved el Debek, who was arrested in Livonia that same day and subsequently charged with numerous crimes — though none involved plotting attacks in New York.
In December, another Dearborn man was sentenced to five years in prison for seeking to join Hizballah in Lebanon. Also, in 2014 in a separate case, a former Dearborn resident was killed in Syria while fighting for Hizballah.
According to criminal complaints unsealed Thursday in Manhattan’s U.S. District Court, el Debek and Kourani were recruited as Hizballah operatives and received military-style training, including in the use of rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns, in support of the group’s terrorist mission.
Kourani allegedly conducted surveillance of potential targets in the U.S., including military and law enforcement facilities in New York, authorities said….
El Debek, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was first recruited by Hizballah in late 2007 or early 2008. Shortly before being recruited, he expressed his support for the terror group’s leader in an e-mail and eventually received a salary from Hizballah through 2015.
For years, authorities said, el Debek received military training from Hizballah in Lebanon. From 2008 through 2104, the terror group taught him how to make bombs, handle weapons and conduct surveillance and countersurveillance.
According to the government, el Debek was trained in techniques and methods similar to those used to build the bomb that in 2012 blew up a bus in Bulgaria that was transporting Israeli tourists, killing six and injuring 32. That terror attack, the government said, was carried out by one of el Debek’s relatives.
While working for Hizballah, el Debek conducted missions in Thailand and Panama. One of his missions was to clean up explosive materials in a house in Bangkok that others had left because they were under surveillance, the government said. At the direction of Hizballah, el Debek used his U.S. passport to enter and leave Thailand so that he could travel from Malaysia to Thailand without obtaining a visa.
El Debek’s missions in Panama included locating U.S. and Israeli Embassies, casing security procedures at the Panama Canal and the Israeli Embassy and locating hardware stores where explosive materials could be purchased. After returning from a 2012 trip to Panama, el Debek’s handlers asked him for photographs of the U.S. Embassy and details about its security procedures….
Lynn says
At least for once we didn’t wait for a bomb to go off before arresting the jihadist. This guy could have made hundreds of bombs that are still floating around awaiting use.
Sam says
How about family members and friends and the mosque they attended in Dearborn. I am very sure they were in disbelief with these allegations and they think that FBI is plotting against poor muslims as a result of rampant Islamophobia devastating America nowadays.
How can muslims can get away with so much BS anymore?
Oliver says
Sam-who can the Muslims get away with so much BS?
THEY HAVE ALLIES IN THE MEDIA AND THE LEFT WINGERS.
They hate Trump (he is pro-America); hate Sessions- for law, order, obeying the law, and justice and fairness.
that gets the liberals panties all twisted up.
John A. Marre says
They are here. Many of us have known it for years. No authority has chosen to do anything about it. They will carry out the dictates of their religion. Innocents will die, and no authority will take responsibility for having done nothing.
Oliver says
If the one in the Bronx was an illegal alien, DeBlasio will be pissed off that the Feds arrested him AFTER ALL, NYC is a refuge city.
WPM says
Off topic DeBlasio and the idiot head of city council will march tomorrow in the P.R. parade with the head of a terror group that killed police officers and private citizens in New York City in the 1970s.DeBlasio and GOO Goo eyes Governor said they will fight tooth and nail to work against Trump on any deportation of illegal immigrants even convicted felons. He has done away any surveillance on Mosque in New York City ,he has instructed the officials running New York City jails to not had over any illegal immigrants in lock up or any information to the feds. He has done all this and has a hissy fit when President Trump said he will cut back funding for New York to fight Terrorist. Trump knows this progressive red diaper man child running the city will spend it on feel good we are brothers projects that have nothing to do with fighting terrorist. The first WTC bombing planning and people were from a Mosque in Brooklyn, a few years ago a numbers of members of another Mosque in Brooklyn were planning on attacking Jews in Boro Park ,and Williamsberg both failed because NYPD brought information gather to the FEDS.