|
Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
|
August 16, 2016
|
|
Arrests
Suggest Hizballah Seeking Stronger West Bank Foothold
by IPT News • Aug 16, 2016 at
1:39 pm
|
|
|
|
Share:
|
Be the
first of your friends to like this.
Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service announced Tuesday that it busted Hizballah terrorist cells operating in the West Bank
planning to conduct attacks against Israelis. Nine alleged operatives were
arrested over the last several months.
Members of Hizballah's Unit 133 external operations branch used social
media services, especially Facebook, to recruit Palestinians in the West
Bank.
"The Hizballah organization has recently made it a priority to try
to spark terror acts, doing so from far away, while attempting to not
clearly expressing its involvement," read a Shin Bet statement.
Funded by Hizballah, terrorist cells prepared explosives to conduct
suicide bombings and attack Israel Defense Forces (IDF) patrols in the West
Bank.
A Shin Bet investigation found that cell ringleader Mustafa Kamal Hindi
was recruited though the "Palestine the Free" Facebook page
featuring anti-Israel Hizballah posts. Hindi then recruited other
operatives for a shooting attack against the IDF. Each of the cell members
were between the ages of 18-22 and hailed from the West Bank town of
Qalqilya. Security forces arrests the cell members in June.
One of the members, Mehmed Daoud, has ties to Hamas. A different
operative purchased the material required to build a suicide bomb, while
another was tasked with building the explosive device. Another terrorist
focused on garnering intelligence about IDF patrols in the area. The group
also began training with rifles for shooting attacks.
Gaza-based Hizballah operative Mehmed Fa'iz Abu-Jadian also used
Facebook to recruit three other Palestinian men from the West Bank to carry
out terrorist attacks against Israelis.
Abu-Jadian recruited Usama Nu'af Sid Najm, 36, and ordered him to use a
computer encryption program to communicate with Hizballah members in
Lebanon.
Najm was paid $900 to recruit others and facilitate a suicide attack,
the Shin Bet said.
Najm also coordinated with a member of the Syria-based Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) to form a division in the West Bank.
These details show that terrorist organizations with different ideological
and religious objectives can cooperate effectively to attack their common
enemy – the Jewish state.
Click here to read more details about other Hizballah
attempts at recruiting Palestinians for terrorist attacks.
In January, a Shin Bet investigation revealed that Hizballah leader Hassan
Nasrallah's son, Jawan, recruited terrorists in the West Bank via social
media. Through encrypted email exchanges with a Hizballah handler, cell
ring leader Muhammad Zaghloul received instructions for conducting
suicide-bombing attacks and offered a plan to kill an IDF officer. Zaghloul
admitted that the cell conducted surveillance of the officer and requested
$30,000 to purchase arms to kill him.
The operatives received $5,000 from Hizballah, which covered the
purchase of a sub-machine gun and magazine. The plot to shoot Israeli
soldiers was likely in its execution phase since the two terrorists were
arrested in possession of the firearm.
Unit 133 continues trying to build networks among Palestinians, but has
failed to secure a major presence in the West Bank. Those efforts are
likely to continue despite the arrests.
Related Topics: IPT News, Hizballah,
terrorist
recruitment, social
media, West
Bank, IDF,
Shin
Bet, Mustafa
Kamal Hindi, Mehmed
Daoud, Mehmed
Fa'iz Abu-Jadian, Usama
Nu'af Sid Najm. Hassan Nasrallah, Jawan
Nasrallah
|
The IPT accepts no funding from
outside the United States, or from any governmental agency or political or
religious institutions. Your support of The Investigative Project on
Terrorism is critical in winning a battle we cannot afford to lose. All
donations are tax-deductible. Click here to donate online. The
Investigative Project on Terrorism Foundation is a recognized 501(c)3
organization.
202-363-8602
- main
202-966-5191
- fax
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment