Hundreds of Hezbollah agents are suspected to be working in the United States, and the terror group enjoys the support of "several thousand sympathetic donors" across the country, according to an investigative report issued earlier today by the House’s Homeland Security Committee.
"Pinning down a reliable estimate of the number of Hezbollah operatives who now reside inside the U.S. is difficult because of their operational security expertise," an outline of the report stated. "But some officials estimate that, based on cases uncovered since 9/11, there are likely several thousand sympathetic donors, while operatives probably number in the hundreds."
The committee also revealed that Hezbollah sympathizers have been involved in 21 legal cases since 2002—though the links of the accused to the militant group was not necessarily revealed.
"Most Hezbollah-linked federal defendants have been Lebanese nationals or naturalized U.S. citizens from Lebanon; many of those charged by the Department of Justice over the past decade remain at large in Lebanon," the report states.
"Many defendants were known or suspected of having military training or direct combat experience against Israeli forces," according the report. "Some were quietly convicted of fraud and deported as criminal aliens without their Hezbollah background being publicly disclosed by prosecutors."
Hezbollah—more than any other terror group—has the unique ability to flip "a U.S.-based fundraising cell into a lethal terror force, should Iran decide that is in its interests," the report states.