TEL AVIV – The Palestinian Authority has information indicating the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization has been seeking in recent days to recruit militants to carry out attacks in the West Bank and inside Israel, a PA intelligence official told WND.
The official said the PA received the information from seven former members of Fatah's so-called military wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. The former Fatah fighters said they were contacted by Qais Obeid, an Israeli Arab and a grandson of former Knesset member Diyab Obeid. Obeid defected to Lebanon and became a senior officer for Hezbollah.
The former Al Aqsa Brigade members said Obeid offered them money to re-launch a cell to carry out terror attacks in the West Bank and inside Israel.
While the Al Aqsa members turned Obeid down, the PA is concerned that other West Bank and Jerusalem-based jihadists may already be on Hezbollah's payroll, the official said.
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The PA believes Hezbollah is seeking to expand attacks against Israelis from Gaza to the West Bank as a way to distract Israel's ongoing Gaza operations.
It was not immediately clear whether or not the Hezbollah axis was behind two terrorist attacks in Jerusalem today.
Earlier Monday, a soldier was seriously injured in a shooting on Jerusalem's Mount Scopus near Hebrew University. The incident was regarded as a terror attack by Israeli security agencies.
Also Monday, a terrorist from eastern Jerusalem used an excavation tractor to overturn a bus and kill a pedestrian while injuring six others. The terrorist, who had a police record, was shot dead by a police officer.