Hizballah terror teams fan out in six countries prompting maximum Israeli alert
debkafile‘s counter-terror sources report that last week the Lebanese Hizballah put together a large number of terrorist teams and deployed them in six countries for attacks on Israeli targets.
This intelligence prompted the counter-terror bureau in Jerusalem to publish Sunday, Feb. 1, an exceptionally high alert for traveling Israelis to be on the lookout for terrorist attacks including abductions. Security is also high in Israel and at embassies and Jewish institutions worldwide.
The Shiite terrorists have sworn to avenge the death of their military chief Imad Mughniyeh whom they accuse Israel of killing in Damascus a year ago. They also hope to disrupt Israel’s general election on Feb. 10. Hizballah’s secretary general Hassan Nasrallah is recently quoted as say that the Israeli poll could be cancelled by the assassination of one or more senior officials – and not only overseas.
Israeli officials were advised to be especially vigilant, but all nationals are warned to take precautions. The danger, the counter-terror bureau warned, is concrete, immediate and serious.
According to our sources, most of the terrorist teams were sent out from places outside Lebanon, drawn from the covert spy and terror cells Hizballah maintains in other parts of the Middle East as well as Africa and Europe. A large number were deployed in the hope that if most of them miss, at last one will achieve a spectacular hit.
Last week, Nasrallah told a news conference in Beirut that revenge for Mughniyeh’s martyrdom was not enough. He pledged never-ending retaliation “that would never be put behind Hizballah, but always be ahead.”
Israeli travelers were specifically warned to avoid Arab and Muslim countries – especially Sinai – watch out for unusual occurrences, refuse tempting offers and invitations from strangers, rendezvous with contacts only in public places along with trusted companions and avoid patronizing the same locations, such as hotels and restaurants, with predictable regularity.
Israeli holidaymakers in Sinai are warned to leave at once; there are plots to snatch them off its beaches and smuggle them into the Gaza Strip.
Israel’s Channel 2 TV reported that the first Hizballah attack against an Israeli target in a European country had been foiled already thanks to shared intelligence with its authorities.