Incoming terror attacks? US intel warns Hezbollah could target mainland America as well as Israel

U.S. intelligence officials have stated that there is an increasing risk of an attack on Americans in the Middle East and even at home in the United States by Lebanese Hezbollah militants, according to a report from Politico, citing four unnamed officials familiar with the intelligence.

The report revealed that the officials have warned that the risk of terror attacks against the continental U.S. has increased since Hamas's October 7 terrorist attack against Israel and the subsequent counter-offensive by the Israel Defense Forces. Hezbollah, the terrorist allies of Hamas in neighboring Lebanon, have been increasing their role in the conflict, launching a series of low-level attacks against northern Israel.

An anonymous U.S. official told Politico, "Hezbollah could draw on the capability they have … to put people [in] places to do something. It is something to be worried about." Hezbollah, which, like Hamas, is backed by Iran, is most likely to attack American military assets and personnel in the area, officials said. They added that diplomatic personnel overseas may also be at risk, but the chance of an attack on the U.S. itself is also increasing.

One former official, Andrew Tabler, who served as special envoy for Syria engagement at the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the Trump administration, said, "The Lebanon front is ready to kick off. And these Iranian militia are pounding the U.S. in eastern Syria and Iraq. It’s interesting that this is all going on in the background and people are focusing on the Gaza theater, but the war is actually much larger than that."

The assessment appears to cross the partisan divide as well with Politico reporting that Christy Abizaid, the Biden administration's director of the National Counterterrorism Center, explaining to a congressional hearing in October, "Iran, Hezbollah and their linked proxies are trying to calibrate their activity, avoiding actions that would open up a concerted second front with the United States or Israel while still exacting costs in the midst of the current conflict. This is a very fine line to walk, and in the present regional context, their actions carry the potential for miscalculation.” 

Newsmax's Daniel Cohen reporting from Israel noted from the report that "Hezbollah has more capability and an international network of operatives in comparison to say ISIS or Al Qaeda."

The Gateway Pundit reported the leader of Hezbollah in Lebanon Hassan Nasrallah told supporters in Beirut during a November event that the terrorist network would strike against American bases in the region saying, "We will attack US bases. They must pay the price."

He claimed, "America is fully responsible for the war in Gaza, and Israel is just the tool. The United States is the one preventing the condemnation of Israel in the UN Security Council, and it is the United States that is preventing a ceasefire in Gaza.”

The chief concern is that the porous southern border between the U.S. and Mexico provides a ready-made vector for attackers seeking to enter the U.S. to commit horrific mass-casualty events. 

An internal memo acquired by The Daily Caller from the Customs and Border Protection San Diego field office warned, "San Diego Field Office Intelligence Unit assesses that individuals inspired by, or reacting to the current Israel-Hamas conflict may attempt travel to or from the area of hostilities in the Middle East via circuitous transit across the Southwest border."

The CBP memo added, "Foreign fighters motivated by ideology or mercenary soldiers of fortune may attempt to obfuscate travel to or from the US to or from countries in the Middle East through Mexico."