U.S. authorities have charged two operatives belonging to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah with terrorism offenses, accused of plotting to target American and Israeli targets in New York and Panama.

Police arrested Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, New York, on June 1. They both appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday.

U.S. authorities said the pair had been supporting "Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad organization" and had been in Lebanon for weapons and bomb-making training.

Kourani is accused of scouting targets in the U.S., specifically Israeli military personnel and U.S. military and law enforcement facilities. He looked for firearms suppliers, airport security information and returned information to the group via coded emails sent to a handler. He had receiving military training with the group on several occasions between 2008 and 2014.

Debek, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is accused of looking for targets in Panama, including the U.S. and Israeli embassies, as well as looking at the vulnerability of ships passing through the Panama Canal on a visit in 2012.

"Pre-operational surveillance is one of the hallmarks of Hezbollah in planning for future attacks," New York Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill told Associated Press.

Both, if convicted, face decades in prison.

Read more: U.S. omits Iran and Hezbollah from terror threat list

Panama's government said it was satisfied with the arrests as its cooperation "with international intelligence bodies" continues to "prevent this type of threat."

Hezbollah, a movement that Iran supports financially, considers Israel to be its arch-enemy. It opposes the U.S., a key supporter of Israel and enemy of Iran's hardline leadership and supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-long civil war. The U.S., EU, and Israel considers Hezbollah to be an extremist group.

The largest armed group in Lebanon remains popular in Lebanon because of its opposition to Israel, which it fought a one-month war against in 2006 on the southern border the country shares with Israel.</s>NEW YORK (AP) — Two men from Michigan and New York City were tasked by a terrorist organization with looking for potential terrorism targets in New York and Panama, U.S. authorities said Thursday as they announced the suspects’ recent arrests.

Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, were charged in Manhattan federal court with providing support to a terrorist organization. El Debek was arrested June 1 in Livonia, Michigan; Kourani was arrested the same day in the Bronx. Both men were being held in New York City after court appearances.

In a release, authorities said the men tried to provide support to Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad organization after receiving military training from the group.

They said El Debek looked for potential targets in Panama, including U.S. and Israeli embassies, and ships in the Panama Canal, while Kourani surveilled American targets, including military and law enforcement facilities in New York City.

William F. Sweeney Jr., head of the New York FBI office, said the charges “reveal once again that the New York City region remains a focus of many adversaries, demonstrated as alleged in this instance by followers of a sophisticated and determined organization with a long history of coordinating violent activities on behalf of Hezbollah.”

New York Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill said Kourani and others conducted covert surveillance of potential targets, including U.S. military bases and Israeli military personnel in New York City.

“Pre-operational surveillance is one of the hallmarks of Hezbollah in planning for future attacks,” he said.

O’Neill noted that Kourani, who was born in Lebanon, received sophisticated military training overseas on at least two occasions, including the use of a rocket propelled grenade. He said El Debek also was charged with possessing extensive bomb-making training from Hezbollah.

Authorities said Kourani attended Hezbollah-sponsored weapons training in Lebanon in 2000 when he was 16. They said he lawfully entered the U.S. in 2003, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering in 2009 and a master’s in business administration in 2013.

Authorities said El Debek, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was first recruited by Hezbollah in late 2007 or early 2008. They said he received military training from the group from 2008 through 2014.</s>Two men arrested in the Bronx and Michigan after planning to target embassy in Central America and Israeli military personnel in US Fighters of the Shiite Hezbollah terror group attend the funeral of a comrade who died in combat in Syria in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Hatta on March 18, 2017. NEW YORK - The US Justice Department Thursday said it arrested two men tied to Hezbollah who had been plotting attacks against Americans and Israelis in the US and Panama.

Start the conversation, or Read more at The Times of Israel.</s>Two men from Michigan and New York City were tasked by a terrorist organization with looking for potential terrorism targets in New York and Panama, U.S. authorities said Thursday as they announced the suspects' recent arrests.

Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, were charged in Manhattan federal court with providing support to a terrorist organization. El Debek was arrested June 1 in Livonia, Michigan; Kourani was arrested the same day in the Bronx. Both men were being held in New York City after court appearances.

In a release, authorities said the men tried to provide support to Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad organization after receiving military training from the group.

They said El Debek looked for potential targets in Panama, including U.S. and Israeli embassies, and tried to learn how close someone could get to ships passing through the Panama Canal and whether there was weakness in its construction, while Kourani surveilled American targets, including military and law enforcement facilities in New York City.

Authorities said El Debek has told the FBI that he was detained by Hezbollah from December 2015 until April 2016 after he was falsely accused of spying for the United States. They said that from late 2014 until February, El Debek has conducted over 250 Facebook searches with words including "martyrs of the holy defense," ''martyrs of Islamic resistance" and "martyrs of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon."

William F. Sweeney Jr., head of the New York FBI office, said the charges "reveal once again that the New York City region remains a focus of many adversaries, demonstrated as alleged in this instance by followers of a sophisticated and determined organization with a long history of coordinating violent activities on behalf of Hezbollah."

New York Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill said Kourani and others conducted covert surveillance of potential targets, including U.S. military bases and Israeli military personnel in New York City.

"Pre-operational surveillance is one of the hallmarks of Hezbollah in planning for future attacks," he said.

O'Neill noted that Kourani, who was born in Lebanon, received sophisticated military training overseas on at least two occasions, including in the use of a rocket propelled grenade. He said El Debek also was charged with possessing extensive bomb-making training from Hezbollah.

Authorities said Kourani attended Hezbollah-sponsored weapons training in Lebanon in 2000 when he was 16. They said he lawfully entered the U.S. in 2003, obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering in 2009 and a master's in business administration in 2013.

Authorities said El Debek, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was first recruited by Hezbollah in late 2007 or early 2008. They said he received military training from the group from 2008 through 2014.

In May 2009, El Debek used his U.S. passport to go to Thailand on Hezbollah's behalf to clean explosive materials out of a house in Bangkok after others had to leave because they were under surveillance, prosecutors said.</s>By The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal authorities say they’ve interrupted efforts to identify potential terrorism targets in New York City and Panama by arresting a man Michigan and another in New York.

Court papers unsealed Thursday charge the two men with providing support to a terrorist organization.

Samer El Debek of Dearborn, Michigan, was arrested June 1 in Livonia, Michigan, while Ali Kourani was arrested in the Bronx. Both men are being held in New York City.

In a statement, authorities say the men tried to provide support to Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad organization after receiving military training from the group.

They say El Debek looked for potential targets in Panama, including U.S. and Israeli embassies, while Kourani surveilled American targets, including military and law enforcement facilities in New York City.</s>Federal authorities say they've interrupted efforts to identify potential terrorism targets in New York City and Panama by arresting a man Michigan and another in New York.

NEW YORK — Federal authorities say they’ve interrupted efforts to identify potential terrorism targets in New York City and Panama by arresting a man Michigan and another in New York.

Court papers unsealed Thursday charge the two men with providing support to a terrorist organization.

Samer El Debek of Dearborn, Michigan, was arrested June 1 in Livonia, Michigan, while Ali Kourani was arrested in the Bronx. Both men are being held in New York City.

In a statement, authorities say the men tried to provide support to Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad organization after receiving military training from the group.

They say El Debek looked for potential targets in Panama, including U.S. and Israeli embassies, while Kourani surveilled American targets, including military and law enforcement facilities in New York City.</s>USA law enforcement agencies arrested two American citizens on suspicion of planning attacks against Israeli and American targets in Panama under the auspices of the Hezbollah terror organization.

Mr O’Neill noted that Mr Kourani, who was born in Lebanon, received sophisticated military training overseas on at least two occasions, including in the use of a rocket propelled grenade.

Samar El Debek, 37, was arrested in Livonia and was in court earlier this week on related terrorism charges.

Two naturalized Americans from NY and MI have been charged with terrorism, accused of operating on behalf of Hezbollah in the United States, Panama and Thailand, U.S. officials announced Thursday.

USA officials said Kourani received weapons training from Hezbollah as a teenager in Lebanon before moving to the United States legally in 2003, to obtain degrees in biomedical engineering and business administration.

They alleged that he was recruited into Hezbollah’s operations unit Islamic Jihad in 2008, and the following year became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Hezbollah, a Shi’ite group aligned with Iran and the government of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, has been designated a terrorist organization by the US State Department since 1997.

Samer el Debek, 37, of Dearborn and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx were arrested a week ago and charged with training and working on behalf of Hizballah, a USA -designated terrorist organization based in Lebanon. He has appeared in court and the criminal complaint against him was unsealed in Manhattan on Thursday.

Based on information El Debek provided to the FBI, FBI bomb technicians have assessed that El Debek has a “high degree of technical sophistication” in the area.

The Department of Justice said El Debek attended several military training sessions from Hezbollah in Lebanon from around 2008 through around 2014. Kourani meanwhile surveilled American targets, including military and law enforcement facilities in New York City.

El Debek, also a naturalized USA citizen, was recruited by Hezbollah in late 2007 or early 2008, according to the Justice Department, which said he conducted multiple covert operations in Panama and Thailand, but his home base continued to be the United States.

In 2010, officials at the State Department described Hezbollah as “the most technically capable terrorist group in the world, and a continued security threat to the United States”.

Prosecutors said Kourani was an active member of the Islamic Jihad Organization – a branch associated with Hezbollah and had traveled to China Guangzhou where Hizballah in the past had been known to obtain bomb making materials for the group.

-Conspiracy to receive military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

El Debek also allegedly conducted missions for Hezbollah in Thailand and Panama. Sweeney thanked the hundreds of investigators who he said comprise the FBI’s New York JTTF and “display constant vigilance on our behalf”. Attempts to reach Kourani’s attorney Peggy Cross-Goldenberg and Debek’s attorney Robert Soloway were not immediately successful. FBI Detroit routinely conducts CT investigations. Ali Kourani, of the Bronx, was arrested last week on the terror-related charges. FBI Detroit has no credible information to suggest any terrorism threat to the Metropolitan Detroit area.

The agency said no specific plot was underway.</s>Two naturalized Americans from New York and Michigan have been charged with terrorism, accused of operating on behalf of Hezbollah in the United States, Panama and Thailand, US officials announced Thursday.

Ali Kourani, 32, and Samer el Debek, 37, were arrested on June 1 in the Bronx and just outside Detroit, respectively, US officials said. They appeared before US magistrates separately.

Both were hit with a raft of charges that include providing material support to Hezbollah — which Israel and the West consider a terror group — weapons offenses and receiving military-type training from group.

If convicted they could spend decades in a US prison.

Debek, on Hezbollah’s payroll for years, conducted surveillance in Panama, where he scoped out the US and Israeli embassies and assessed vulnerabilities of the Panama Canal and ships passing through it, US officials said.

Kourani allegedly monitored potential targets in the United States, including military bases in New York, acting Manhattan US Attorney Joon Kim said.

Hezbollah is the most powerful armed group in Lebanon. Although blacklisted as a terror group in the West, it enjoys widespread support in Lebanon because of its “resistance” to Israel and social welfare programs.

US officials said Kourani received weapons training from Hezbollah as a teenager in Lebanon before moving to the United States legally in 2003, to obtain degrees in biomedical engineering and business administration.

They alleged that he was recruited into Hezbollah’s operations unit Islamic Jihad in 2008, and the following year became a naturalized US citizen.

He communicated with his handler through coded emails, and received bouts of weapons training and drills on tactics in Lebanon, US prosecutors said.

In the United States, he allegedly scoured for firearms suppliers, Israeli military personnel, airport security information and surveilled US military and law enforcement facilities in New York, sending information back to Hezbollah.

US officials say Debek visited Thailand in May 2009 on his US passport, tasked with cleaning up explosive precursors in a Bangkok house that had been abandoned by others because they were under surveillance.

In 2012, he went on a Hezbollah

 surveillance mission to Panama, tasked with identifying areas of weakness at the Panama Canal and providing information about how close someone could get to a ship passing through the Canal, officials said.

Panama’s government expressed “satisfaction” over the arrests, saying “it maintains active cooperation with international intelligence bodies to prevent this type of threat.”

The statement said US authorities had alerted Panama in 2014 that Debek might try to enter that country, and “actions were immediately taken in line with the law to impede his entry.”

Debek allegedly told the FBI that he was detained by Hezbollah

 from December 2015 to April 2016, and falsely accused of spying for the United States.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation believes that his military training included extensive instruction on bomb-making.</s>WASHINGTON (JTA) – Two men living in the U.S. have been charged for working for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

A release from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan on Thursday said Ali Kourani, 32, and Samer El Debek, 37, were arrested on June 1 for providing material support to and receiving military training from the Lebanese militia, which is designated by the United States as a terrorist group.

Kourani, the release said, identified possible weapons suppliers in the United States and obtained military training in Lebanon. He also identified Israeli army personnel in the United States and surveilled U.S. airports, military bases and police stations, it said.

El Debek was also charged with being trained by Hezbollah. In 2011, the release said, El Debek traveled to Panama where his assignment included “locating the U.S. and Israeli Embassies, casing security procedures at the Panama Canal and the Israeli Embassy, and locating hardware stores where explosive precursors could be purchased.”

A year later, El Debek returned to Panama allegedly to identify “areas of weakness and construction at the Panama Canal, as well as provide information about how close someone could get to a ship passing through the Canal.”

Each man was charged with an array of crimes, which could bring sentences of between five and 20 years each.

Kourani was arrested in the Bronx and El Debek was arrested in Livonia, Michigan. Each was subsequently charged in federal court in Manhattan.</s>Two men from Michigan and New York City were tasked by a terrorist organization with looking for potential terrorism targets in New York and Panama, U.S. authorities said Thursday as they announced the suspects’ recent arrests.
U.S. authorities charge two operatives, Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, New York, belonging to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah with terrorism offenses, accused of plotting to target American and Israeli targets in New York and Panama.