US intelligence officials warn Hezbollah may target mainland US amid war in Israel: report
U.S. intelligence officials say there is a possibility that Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon will target Americans in the Middle East or even in the mainland U.S.
U.S. authorities have warned of an increased risk of terror attacks since the outset of Israel's war against Hamas. Hezbollah has begun to play a more major role in the conflict, leading to the possibility of serious attacks, according to a Politico report.
"Hezbollah could draw on the capability they have … to put people [in] places to do something," one U.S. intelligence official told the outlet. "It is something to be worried about."
Israel and Hezbollah have spent the New Year trading threats about a wider war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said his country does not seek a war with Hezbollah, but it will do anything to secure Israel's safety.
"Hezbollah made a serious mistake about us in 2006, and is doing so again now. It thinks that we are weak as a spiderweb, and now sees what kind of spider we are," Netanyahu said while visiting soldiers at the northern border. "It sees here enormous power, national unity, and determination to do whatever is necessary to bring security back to the north, and I tell you that this is my policy."
"We naturally prefer that there be no large scale conflict, but that will not stop us," he added. "We have given Hezbollah an example of what happened to its friends in the south, and that is what will happen here in the north. We will do anything to bring back security."
President Biden's administration has sought to prevent Israel's war against Hamas from boiling over into a regional conflict. Nevertheless, Iran's proxy terrorist groups have carried out more than 100 attacks on U.S. and Israeli targets since October.
TOP HAMAS OFFICIAL KILLED IN BEIRUT EXPLOSION, HEZBOLLAH MEDIA SAYS
Hezbollah ramped up its rhetoric following a pair of attacks in Beirut that killed senior members of both Hezbollah and Hamas last week. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the attack that killed the Hamas commander, Saleh al-Arouri.
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, saying the Jewish state "will not succeed in achieving the war's goals."
"Whoever thinks of war with us, in one word, he will regret it," Nasrallah said.