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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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March 7, 2017
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Hizballah's
Ongoing Threat to U.S. National Security
by IPT News • Mar 7, 2017 at 5:56
pm
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Most analyses of Hizballah focus on the terrorist group's intervention
in Syria or its threat to Israel. But the Iranian-backed organization
maintains a significant presence in and near the United States, threatening
national security. Current American proposals to strengthen borders and
immigration measures may be limited to address this important, yet poorly
understood, threat.
A recent Al-Arabiya article examines Hizballah's North American threat.
It has the expertise to build advanced tunnels on the southern U.S.
border, enabling Hizballah terrorists and Mexican cartel operatives to
infiltrate the United States. Relations between Iranian-backed proxies, including
Hizballah, and Latin American drug cartels are well established. Mexican
gang members learn from Hizballah's combat experience and use of advanced
weaponry. Hizballah, in turn, derives a significant portion of its finances
from the drug trade and other illicit activities.
In recent years, security officials in southwestern states noticed a rise in tattoos featuring Hizballah's insignia among imprisoned
drug cartel operatives. This surprising trend indicates a strengthened
relationship between the terrorist group and Mexican gang members. In line
with its foreign policy, Iranian operatives infiltrating Latin America seek
to convert individuals to adopt its extremist Shi'ite ideology. Over the
years, pro
Iranian websites have proliferated across Latin America, in an attempt
to cultivate support for the Islamic Republic.
Powerful Latin American politicians also help Iran and Hizballah penetrate the region and
threaten the United States. In February, CNN received a 2013 secret
intelligence document from several Latin American countries demonstrating
ties between Venezuelan Vice President Tarreck El Aissami and 173 Venezuelan identification cards and passports
issued to people from the Middle East, including Hizballah operatives. El
Aissami "took charge of issuing, granting visas and nationalizing
citizens from different countries, especially Syrians, Lebanese,
Jordanians, Iranians, and Iraqis," the report shows.
Iranian and Hizballah operatives have cultivated and consolidated
operating bases in South America, especially in the tri-border area
(TBA) of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. With a large Muslim population
featuring significant numbers of Hizballah sympathizers, the region is ripe
for recruitment, arms smuggling and drug trafficking. Hizballah continues
to exploit other Lebanese Shi'ite diaspora communities, including in the
United States, to strengthen its presence worldwide.
In 2011, the United States disrupted a plot led by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) in cooperation with a Mexican drug cartel to assassinate Saudi
Arabia's ambassador to Washington.
The problematic nexus between Iranian-backed operatives, including
Hizballah, and Mexican drug cartels allows terrorists to earn big money to fuel
their violent operations. These connections also enable Hizballah to make inroads into the United States through its
porous border with Mexico.
American intelligence reports show that Hizballah maintains a
significant network of sleeper cells in the United States. Though Hizballah
has not conducted a major attack on U.S. soil, the group could decide to
strike key American sites should U.S.-Iran relations deteriorate
substantially. Preparations to combat Islamist terrorism broadly should
strongly consider the nuanced and growing Hizballah threat to U.S. national
security.
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