2013 Briefing Book - Print Version - Aipac

ISRAEL AT RISK
U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1559 and 1701 require Hizballah to disarm and ban the
provision of weaponry to the group.
Hizballah’s 2009 party platform also reemphasized the long-held Hizballah policy of targeting
U.S. interests and U.S. forces in the region and elsewhere. Hizballah has killed more Americans
than any other terrorist group aside from al-Qaeda. In its first dramatic act of terrorism, Hizballah
in October 1983 launched two truck bombs against the French and U.S. Marine barracks in
Beirut, killing 241 U.S. servicemen and an additional 58 French peacekeepers. With support from
Iran, Hizballah also carried out the 1996 terrorist attack against the Khobar Towers in Saudi
Arabia, killing another 19 U.S. servicemen.
Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Hizballah and its primary sponsor, Iran, provided
training and technology to Iraqi insurgent groups, which carried out regular attacks against
U.S. and Coalition forces. Hizballah is also expanding its capabilities by fighting for the Assad
dictatorship in Syria. Access to the Syrian chemical arsenal could dramatically widen the conflict
by bringing in neighboring states.
Al-Qaeda Vows to Expand Jihad to Israel
While focused on attacks against the United States, al-Qaeda leaders and affiliates have promised
to destroy Israel in efforts to rid the region of all infidels. Before being killed by U.S. forces,
Osama Bin Laden regulalry promised to “liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the
[Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea.”
Official al-Qaeda presence in Gaza and the West Bank is small, but support for the ideas that al-
Qaeda espouses are present and growing. Many Palestinians are exposed to al-Qaeda’s ideology
and connect to its leaders through the Internet and small, religiously stringent Salafi groups in the
Palestinian territories. Despite Hamas’ claims that al-Qaeda does not operate in the Gaza Strip,
Salafi groups regularly clash with Hamas over what these groups claim are Hamas’ lax religious
laws. Salafi groups have also carried out attacks against Israeli interests, including targeting
Israelis traveling in the Sinai.
Al-Qaeda is a growing presence in Syria, and has played an increased role in attacks on regime
targets. Should Assad fall, al-Qaeda may be in a strong position to threaten Israel and Western
interests in the region.
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