Israel claims terror ‘cell’ linked to Hizbollah was planning to attack it

Five Palestinians arrested and taken to military court

JERUSALEM // Israeli forces have arrested members of a group that was allegedly linked to Hizbollah and planning a shooting attack inside Israel, the army said yesterday.

The army said the “cell” was based in Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank and was made up of Palestinians and that it “received instructions and guidance regarding executing terror attacks from an additional Hizbollah operative”.

The army alleged that the leader of the five- person cell was recruited online by Jawad Nasrallah, son of Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

It did not provide the dates of the arrests, but said only that the investigation had been concluded recently.

Police named the leader of the cell as Mahmoud Zaghloul, who they said was able to contact Hizbollah via social media and then recruited other members to plan the operation.

Police claimed that the Lebanese Shiite group sent the cell US$ 5,000 ( Dh18,360) to help them plan their operation. The arrested men were taken to an Israeli military court to be charged, officials said.

On Monday, in a rare public speech, Israel’s military chief of staff said Hizbollah was his country’s biggest threat.

Gadi Eizenkot said the Iranian- backed movement would be strengthened by the nuclear deal struck by Tehran and world powers. More money would be channelled to Hizbollah with sanctions lifted and as Iran’s economy grows, he claimed.

Hizbollah has targeted army patrols along the Lebanese-Israeli border in response to strikes against its members, most recently on January 4.