johnthebaptist
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- May 27, 2014
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Hiyo Ndio taarifa ya hivi punde kupitia BBC
Kiukweli Dunia inapitia kipindi kigumu sana tumuombe sana Mungu wa Mbinguni aturehemu
Jumaa Mubarak
===
U.S. officials assess that there’s a rising risk Lebanese Hezbollah militants will strike Americans in the Middle East — and even potentially hit inside the United States, four officials familiar with the intelligence told POLITICO.
The Iran-backed militant group would likely target U.S. personnel in the Middle East first, the officials said. And U.S. intelligence agencies are gathering data on Hezbollah that suggest it could be considering attacks on both U.S. troops or diplomatic personnel overseas, two of the officials said.
The chance for an assault on U.S. soil is also growing as tensions in the region escalate, the officials said.
“Hezbollah could draw on the capability they have … to put people [in] places to do something,” one of the officials said, referring to a potential attack on the U.S. “It is something to be worried about.” The official, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to talk freely about sensitive intelligence.
Officials declined to detail the specific kind of attacks Hezbollah could take but said that the Iranian-backed group has capabilities that other terrorist groups in the region do not. Individuals inspired by the Islamic State or al-Qaeda — but who are not directly connected to the membership of those terrorist groups — have carried out lone-wolf attacks in the U.S. and Europe, officials said. But Hezbollah has an expansive international network that would allow the group touse its operatives to carry out an attack in the United States.
Either scenario — an attack domestically or on troops or diplomats overseas — would deal a blow to the Biden administration which has worked to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from broadening into a wider regional war and to keep American forces out of the fray.
It would also likely draw Washington back into the Middle East at a time when it is trying to focus its national security resources on countering China and Russia.
The National Security Council, FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center declined to comment. But senior Biden administration officials have said publicly after Oct. 7 that it believed Tehran and its proxies were not seeking a wider regional war or a confrontation with the U.S.
U.S. troops in the Middle East have already been attacked by multiple other Iranian proxy groups, including Harakat-al-Nujaba, an Iraqi paramilitary group. These militias have launched at least 127 attacks on American forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. The U.S. has hit back multiple times, including a Jan. 4 drone strike in Baghdad that killed a senior militia member.
It is unclear the extent to which Hezbollah regularly coordinates with these other groups, but top intelligence officials in Washington have determined that it has the same aims of disrupting the American military’s position in the region and seeks opportunities to strike U.S. troops.
Politico
Kiukweli Dunia inapitia kipindi kigumu sana tumuombe sana Mungu wa Mbinguni aturehemu
Jumaa Mubarak
===
U.S. officials assess that there’s a rising risk Lebanese Hezbollah militants will strike Americans in the Middle East — and even potentially hit inside the United States, four officials familiar with the intelligence told POLITICO.
The Iran-backed militant group would likely target U.S. personnel in the Middle East first, the officials said. And U.S. intelligence agencies are gathering data on Hezbollah that suggest it could be considering attacks on both U.S. troops or diplomatic personnel overseas, two of the officials said.
The chance for an assault on U.S. soil is also growing as tensions in the region escalate, the officials said.
“Hezbollah could draw on the capability they have … to put people [in] places to do something,” one of the officials said, referring to a potential attack on the U.S. “It is something to be worried about.” The official, like others in this story, was granted anonymity to talk freely about sensitive intelligence.
Officials declined to detail the specific kind of attacks Hezbollah could take but said that the Iranian-backed group has capabilities that other terrorist groups in the region do not. Individuals inspired by the Islamic State or al-Qaeda — but who are not directly connected to the membership of those terrorist groups — have carried out lone-wolf attacks in the U.S. and Europe, officials said. But Hezbollah has an expansive international network that would allow the group touse its operatives to carry out an attack in the United States.
Either scenario — an attack domestically or on troops or diplomats overseas — would deal a blow to the Biden administration which has worked to prevent the Israel-Hamas conflict from broadening into a wider regional war and to keep American forces out of the fray.
It would also likely draw Washington back into the Middle East at a time when it is trying to focus its national security resources on countering China and Russia.
The National Security Council, FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center declined to comment. But senior Biden administration officials have said publicly after Oct. 7 that it believed Tehran and its proxies were not seeking a wider regional war or a confrontation with the U.S.
U.S. troops in the Middle East have already been attacked by multiple other Iranian proxy groups, including Harakat-al-Nujaba, an Iraqi paramilitary group. These militias have launched at least 127 attacks on American forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17. The U.S. has hit back multiple times, including a Jan. 4 drone strike in Baghdad that killed a senior militia member.
It is unclear the extent to which Hezbollah regularly coordinates with these other groups, but top intelligence officials in Washington have determined that it has the same aims of disrupting the American military’s position in the region and seeks opportunities to strike U.S. troops.
Politico
