Syrian conflict: Hezbollah preparing for U.S. attack on Assad forces

by: jim kouri | published: 09 09, 2013

The Lebanon-based terrorist group, Hezbollah, is preparing for an anticipated attack by the United States on the organization's fighters in Syria and its ally, President Basher al-Assad, according to report from an Israeli police source on Thursday.

Lebanon's top newspaper, the Daily Star claims that the Hezbollah leadership is ordering all of its commanders and members of the group's military-wing to prepare for an attack regardless of whether or not President Barack Obama receives congressional authorization from both houses of the U.S. Congress.

The Shia Muslim group has claimed many Hezbollah members have vanished from their Lebanese homes this week and turned off their cell phones to prevent intelligence agencies from following their movements via spy satellites' global positioning systems.

Hezbollah's newsletter Al-Akhbar reported that the Syrian army has mobilized its reserved units that until now have not participated in battle against the rebels. "The Islamic resistance (Hezbollah) has called on all its officers and members to man their positions," according to Moshe Medallion, a former Israeli police investigator and member of the Israel Security Agency.

That report claimed that Hezbollah plans to attack Israel from Syria, as opposed to Lebanon, in the event of a U.S. strike against President Bashar al-Assad's forces and facilities.

Hezbollah's actions on behalf of the Assad government during the two-year-long Syrian civil war places it in direct opposition to other Muslim terrorist networks such as al-Qaeda in Iraq -- who now call themselves the Islamic Nation of Iraq and Syria -- and Syria's Al-Nusra Front.

Hezbollah's, al-Qaeda's and other Islamist groups' involvement in Syria has increased sectarian violence in both Syria and Lebanon, according to Medallion.

Hezbollah has repeatedly rattled its sabers by warning the U.S. that any action against the Assad regime and its allies would result in an attack on Israel and against the U.S. and its interests in the Middle East and North Africa.

A report appearing in Renew America, a publication from former Ambassador Alan Keyes, the reporter stated that "use of technologically advanced unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, by Hezbollah during its 34-day conflict with Israel, is causing both American and Israeli defense officials to formulate an effective defense against drone attacks."

According to a report in Politico, the three UAVs Hezbollah launched against Israel were Iranian-built Ababil vehicles, which carry an 88-pound conventional explosives payload and can travel at least 150 miles.

According to former counterterrorism analyst Lawrence Lochner, the Israeli military has already anticipated such a scenario and has activated some of its army reservists and deployed defensive measures.

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