Posted on January 29, 2020 Fifth Column, Islam, Jihad, Terror
The Fifth Column and the Pro-Iran Movement in the US
*Note- Long but worthy read, the mention in this segment of ChIna caught the eye
https://apelbaum.wordpress.com/2020/01/29/the-fifth-column-and-the-pro-iran-movement-in-the-us/
The most alarming case that relates the existiance of Iranian sleeper cells in the US took place in 2017. According to US federal prosecutors, two US-based Hezbollah Islamic Jihad operatives–Ali Kourani (AKA Ali Korani Samawar) and Samer El Debek (AKA Samer Ahmad Eldebek were tasked with carrying out operational surveillance for Iranian sponsored Hezbollah attacks in the US. Kourani, who was born in Lebanon, lawfully entered the US in 2003 on a student visa; he has over 120 relatives in the US. In 2009, Kourani got a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering degree from the City College of New York. In 2012, he married a Canadian-Lebanese dual citizen, and then promptly separated from his wife. In 2013, he got a Masters degree in Business Administration from Keller Graduate School. He traveled to Lebanon every year from 2005 to 2015 to visit his family.
After getting his MBA and his citizenship, he completely disappeared into the woodwork. He worked as a mid-level manger in various New York area companies making about $100K a year. He was completely westernized, owned a number of apartments, had an American flag on the porch, supported various civil rights causes, and by all accounts was the paragon of a successful Muslim immigrant to the US.
The Perfect Muslim immigrants
Image 44: Ali Kourani and Samer El Debek -The perfectly Americanized Muslim immigrants
But it turns out that he lived a double life. In 2000, Kourani, had attended Hezbollah weapons training in Lebanon when he was only 16 years old. In February 2008, the Islamic Jihad recruited him. When Kourani submitted an application for naturalization in the US in August 2008, he already was an active Hezbollah agent. In April 2009, Kourani became a naturalized citizen and was issued a US passport. In May 2009, Kourani traveled to -Guangzhou, China;- the purpose of the trip was to develop relationships with local vendors in order to obtain large mounts of ammonium nitrate and other chemicals that could be used as explosives.
The Islamic Jihad assigned Kourani a handler and mentor, regularly debriefed him and arranged for his training. Kourani communicated with his handler via coded email and a messaging service for the purpose of instructing him when to return to Lebanon. When Kourani arrived in Lebanon, he would call a telephone number associated with a Islamic Jihad pager and provide a secret passcode. After contacting the pager, the handler would contact Kourani and set up an in-person meeting by calling one of Kourani’s relatives. The Islamic Jihad also provided Kourani with additional training in spycraft, weapons, and sabotage tactics. In 2011, Kourani attended a weapons training camp in Lebanon, where he trained on an RPG, an AK-47 rifle, an MP5 submachine gun, a PKS machine gun and a Glock pistol.
Both, Debek and Ali Kourani were directed by Hezbollah to find people in the US from whom they could purchase weapons which they were planning to stockpile in the New York area. Kourani also conducted surveillance of New York and Toronto airports as well as of FBI, Secret Service and US military facilities in New York City.
The Kourani/Debek case offers insight into just how organized and professional the Iranian operations are in the US and when and how Iran will use the Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad cells to carry out attacks. During one of Kourani’s interviews with the FBI agent, Kourani freely confessed that “I am a member of 910, also known as Islamic Jihad or the Black Ops of Hezbollah. The unit is Iranian-controlled.”
Officially, Hezbollah’s unit 910, reports directly to Hassan Nasrallah but according to Kourani, it is Iran that oversees the unit’s operations. Kourani described his and other members of his team’s role to the FBI as a “sleeper cell“.
It is noteworthy that MSM has been exhibiting an extreme political bias against this case and had refused to dig into the details. Apparently, drawing attention to the clear and present danger of Hezbollah attacks in the US might undermine the MSM false narrative: that Islamic terror is less of a threat than the racist bigoted, and Islamophobic ‘white alt-right’ domestic terrorists which are just waiting for the sign from the conspiratorial dog-whistling Donald Trump.
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