Hezbollah’s proxy war with Israel could reach U.S.
On Nov. 8, 2023, news broke that Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence service, had worked with Brazilian security services and other unnamed foreign intelligence agencies to thwart an alleged terrorist attack on Israeli and Jewish targets in Brazil.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s office said it was planned by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. According to media reports, the arrival of an alleged plotter on a flight from Lebanon triggered the disruption, which, at the time of this writing, has resulted in two more arrests in Brazil.
One of the accused perpetrators allegedly told Brazilian police that he had traveled to Beirut in April to meet with a recruiter seeking “people able to kill and kidnap.” According to the Associated Press, a Brazilian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Hezbollah recruited and financed the suspects.
In a rare public statement, Mossad thanked the Brazilian security services for their cooperation in derailing the plot, which involved “an extensive network that operated in additional countries.”
This operation bore a strong similarity to events I was aware of while posted overseas more than a decade ago. One day in May 2008, early in my tour in one of the Central Intelligence Agency stations, we learned that two Lebanese nationals and four Azerbaijani citizens were arrested for planning terrorist strikes against Israeli targets in Azerbaijan. The agency’s counterterrorism mission is global, and we gained detailed insights into the plot.
Azerbaijani authorities, acting on intelligence from Mossad, intercepted a vehicle carrying two Lebanese nationals and containing explosives, surveillance gear and suppressed pistols. The arrests led authorities to raid safe houses in the capital of Baku and uncover a local terrorist cell. The target of the plot, which was in its advanced stages, was the Israeli embassy.
Housed in the Hyatt Regency, it was in a complex of buildings regularly frequented by many foreigners. The two Lebanese citizens were identified as Ali Karaki — a high-level member of Hezbollah’s terrorist arm, the External Security Organization — and Ali Najem al-Din, an explosives expert.
In October 2009, an Azerbaijani court found the cell members guilty on terrorism-related charges. Karaki and Najem alDin received 15 years in prison, and their four Azeri co-conspirators received between eight and 14 years. In November 2010, following significant pressure from the Iranian government, Azerbaijan agreed to release the two Lebanese citizens on the condition that Iran cease its subversive activities in the country.
Iran did not hold up its end of the bargain, and three years later, Azerbaijani authorities disrupted a similar plot. Meanwhile, Karaki quickly returned to the ranks of Hezbollah and rose to become a senior leader of its Jihad Council, leading to the State Department declaring him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2019.
The recent disruption in Brazil demonstrates that what we called “the Karaki plot” was but one link in a long chain of Iranbacked attempts to wage a proxy war against Israel.
Hezbollah continues to prepare operations to kill Jews wherever it can, laying the groundwork in advance with infrastructure, a local network and detailed attack plans that can be used on short notice. Though Mossad is an exceptional intelligence agency, it is not omnipotent. In 1992 and 1994, Hezbollah succeeded in carrying out attacks in Argentina that killed more than 100 people.
As the Israel-Hamas conflict rages on, the West must be prepared for the shadow war between Israel and Hezbollah — and its patron Iran — to burst suddenly and violently into the open on our streets.
On Oct. 20, Fox News reported that a leaked internal memo by the San Diego office of Customs and Border Protection warned its agents that terrorists, including Hezbollah, may attempt to infiltrate the United States via the southern border.
According to Customs and Border Protection, 169 individuals on the U.S. terrorism watchlist were encountered between ports of entry at the southern border in fiscal year 2023 — a statistic that exceeded the previous six fiscal years combined. It is long past time for Democrats and Republicans in Washington to address the national security crisis at our border, before it’s too late.
Mike Croissant is an intelligence and foreign affairs expert, author and retired CIA officer who lives in Katy. He is the author of “Bombing Hitler’s Hometown,” coming in 2024 from Citadel Press.