Iran is using tactics from the ‘ISIS and Al Qaeda playbook’ to fuel terror attacks in the United States amid an increased risk from lone wolf actors sympathetic to Hamas and other extremist groups, security experts said.
America has been put on high alert by officials after Hamas attacked Israel and experts told DailyMail.com that ‘extremist jihadists’ could try to take advantage of the conflict by staging attacks.
Iran, which funds Hamas, also “inspires people to carry out plots themselves.” The claim comes after investigations found that Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran and which has stepped up its attacks on Israel in recent weeks, has sought to “develop the capacity and capability to plot attacks on US soil.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray warned last week that “Hamas or other foreign terrorist organizations could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to carry out attacks on our own soil.”
The Department of Homeland Security has also said that “targeted violent attacks may increase as the conflict progresses.” DHS officials told law enforcement agencies in Washington DC that the conflict will “almost certainly increase the threat of terrorism.”
The US has said Iran is funding Hamas and Hezbollah and experts also warn the country is using its influence to “inspire people to carry out plots themselves” (Photo: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)
Investigations have found that Hezbollah, a proxy of Iran that has stepped up its attacks on Israel in recent weeks, has sought to “develop the capacity and capability to plot attacks on US soil.”
Dr. Matt Levitt, counterterrorism program director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told DailyMail.com: “The concern is twofold: first, that some people will look at this, and that will translate into specific counterterrorism policies. Israel or wider: anti-Semitic acts of violence.
“We’ve seen things like this before, protests getting out of hand and the potential for that kind of violence. That can happen within the American Muslim community – it can happen within the white supremacist community…
“The second point is that Iran, and some of its allies, have for some time now been slowly following what we tend to think of as an ISIS or al-Qaeda playbook, inspiring people to carry out plots of their own.”
Dr. Matt Levitt, a counterterrorism expert, said extremist jihadists and white supremacists could see the conflict between Israel and Hamas as an “opportunity” for anti-Semitic violence in the United States.
The State Department has said Iran funds Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, with about $100 million each year. The country has been accused of using “information warfare,” including social media campaigns, to stoke anti-American sentiment.
The potential for people following “extremist networks” to carry out attacks is also increased, Levitt said.
“My bigger concern is that either an extremist jihadist or an extremist white supremacist sees this as a great opportunity to carry out violence against Jews, or that individuals who have been listening to this a little bit will use this, you know, propaganda, online networking and starting to believe this is the moment,” he added.
Levitt co-authored a report in June titled “Is Iran Seeking Homegrown Shia Violent Extremist Attacks?”, which referenced “calls from Shia leaders and clerics for violence in the United States.”
Shia Islam is the second largest denomination of the religion and is practiced by 90-95 percent of Iranian Muslims.
The report states: ‘In another scenario, a Shia individual in the United States or elsewhere in the West could radicalize themselves using online messaging. Even more likely is that someone already involved in a Shia extremist group could be mobilized to act independently, independently of the organization.”
The US has said Iran is funding Hamas and Hezbollah and has provided the means, including funding and weapons, for terror groups to attack Israel.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday: “We know that Iran continues to support Hamas and Hezbollah, and we know that Iran is closely monitoring these events, and in some cases actively facilitating and abetting these attacks.” encourages others to Perhaps they want to exploit the conflict for their own good or that of Iran.
“We know that Iran’s goal is to maintain some level of denial here, but we will not allow them to do that.”
Hezbollah fighters shout slogans as they attend the funeral procession of Hezbollah fighter Bilal Nemr Rmeiti, who was killed by Israeli shelling, during his funeral procession in the village of Majadel, south Lebanon, Sunday, October 22, 2023
Dr. Devorah Margolin, also of the Washington Institute, said the biggest threat to the US doesn’t necessarily come directly from organized groups, “but rather from people who believe (the groups) speak for or on behalf of these groups.” groups – what you would call a lone wolf’.
These could be “people who are going to look at the conflict between Israel and Hamas and feel invested in it in some way,” she told DailyMail.com.
“When a conflict arises in the Middle East, especially between Israel and Hamas, we will see an increase in anti-Semitism and Islamophobia in the United States,” said Margolin, who is also a former Senior Research Fellow at the Program on Extremism George Washington University.
Dr. Devorah Margolin said the biggest threat does not necessarily come directly from organized groups, but from sympathizers operating as ‘lone wolf’ attackers
Margolin co-authored a report published in June 2022 that outlined how Hezbollah has a “significant support base in the US… from fundraising organizations to weapons procurement.”
The report, which analyzed 128 federally charged individuals in cases related to “Hezbollah-affiliated activities,” said the group “is seeking to develop the operational capability” to launch a terrorist attack in the U.S. and “continues to use U.S. as a financial and logistical hub to support its activities’.
Israel was stunned after militants from the Palestinian Islamic Movement crossed the Gaza border on October 7 and went on the rampage, killing more than 1,400 people, according to Israeli officials.
They also seized more than 220 hostages in the worst attack in Israel’s history, which led to a heavy Israeli bombardment of the Palestinian coastal area that Gaza’s Hamas rulers say killed 5,791 people.
Police in American cities and federal authorities are on high alert for violence motivated by anti-Semitic or Islamophobic sentiments as the war rages on.
The conflict has sparked a wave of anti-Israel protests in the US and around the world.