FBI director warns of heightened terrorism threat in US amid Middle East conflict

By Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - FBI Director Christopher Wray on Wednesday highlighted an increased threat of terror attacks in the US, citing the escalating conflict in the Middle East as a major factor.

"In a year when the terrorism threat was already elevated, the ongoing war in the Middle East has raised the threat of an attack against Americans in the United States to a whole other level," Wray ​​​​​​​said during a hearing at the House Committee on Homeland Security.

He noted that the US has seen a "rogue’s gallery of foreign terrorist organizations" calling for attacks against Americans and its allies, including Hezbollah, Al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS.

"Given those calls for action, our most immediate concern is that individuals or small groups will draw twisted inspiration from the events in the Middle East to carry out attacks here at home," he said.

"That includes homegrown violent extremists inspired by a foreign terrorist organization and domestic violent extremists targeting Jewish Americans or other faith communities, like Muslim Americans," he added.

The FBI has been "aggressively countering" violence by extremists, according to Wray, who recalled some cases, including the brutal murder of a six-year-old Palestinian boy because he was Muslim, and a man was arrested in Houston who were allegedly studying bomb-making and posted about killing Jewish people.

"On top of the so-called 'lone actor' threat, we cannot—and do not—discount the possibility that Hamas or another foreign terrorist organization may exploit the current conflict to conduct attacks here, on our own soil," he added.

Noting that the US has kept its sights on Hamas and has multiple investigations into individuals affiliated with that foreign terrorist organization, he said the focus is not just on Hamas.

"As the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranians have directly, or by hiring criminals, mounted assassination attempts against dissidents and high-ranking current and former U.S. officials, including right here on American soil," he said, also noting the activities of Hezbollah.