Iran Threat Escalates

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Free Beacon:

The United States government is concerned about new threats of Iranian-backed terrorism against diplomats and high-profile religious leaders in the Middle East from operations by Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

“Iran continues to be a malign influence in the region and play a destabilizing role, especially in support of the Assad regime and Hezbollah,” said a State Department official involved in Iranian affairs.

“The department takes threats to its personnel seriously and takes necessary precautions to ensure their safety,” the official said, without elaborating.

The official made the comments when asked about new fears disclosed to the Free Beacon by a security source in the Middle East on Wednesday that the IRGC is planning a new round of terrorist kidnappings of foreign diplomats and others.

According to the security source, IRGC operatives in West Beirut and Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley are preparing to conduct kidnapping attacks of foreign diplomats in the region, especially those from the United States and its allies.

Other potential kidnap targets include Sunni and Christian leaders, the source said.

The goal of the kidnappings would be to influence events in Lebanon and neighboring Syria.

The source said the IRGC plans to conduct the kidnappings using the name of an obscure Islamist group. However, the real perpetrators are expected to be the IRGC and its regional proxy, Hezbollah.

The kidnappings would signal a return to the tactic used by Iranian-backed terrorists in Lebanon from 1982 to 1992 when a total of 96 foreign hostages were taken from 21 different countries. Most of the victims were American and Western European nationals.

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Another reason to stay out of Lebanon...