“Sleeping Cells” in Europe and America: Hezbollah’s “Specter” of Retaliation against Israel

27th October 2024

2 minutes read

"Sleeping Cells" in Europe and America: Hezbollah’s "Specter" of Retaliation against Israel

A former British commander in Afghanistan has warned of the potential activation of Iran and Hezbollah’s sleeping cells throughout Europe.

Colonel Richard Kemp suggested that Iran might respond to Israel’s retaliatory attack by using its global network of sleeper cells, overseen by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to The Sun, a British newspaper.

He anticipates that attacks could include car bombings outside Israeli embassies, carried out by Iranian-supported terrorists like Hezbollah. Kemp emphasized that Hezbollah has sleeper cells in various locations, including Europe, despite the weakening of its leadership in Lebanon.

He told The Sun: “Hezbollah and its IRGC backers have a vast network in numerous countries. Hezbollah is funded through fundraising in the UK and other European countries, and these funds are channeled back to Hezbollah.”

Kemp explained that Hezbollah has a network of sleeper cells within several European countries, including the UK, which has been in place for a long time. These could be activated at the appropriate moment when Hezbollah or the IRGC deems it necessary.

Kemp views Iran’s sleeper cells as a “deterrent” against any form of Western attack on Iran and also for retaliation purposes.

The newspaper notes that bloody operations linked to Iran have previously reached deep into Europe and the United States.

In 2015, British intelligence service MI5 dismantled a Hezbollah sleeper cell storing vast amounts of explosives on the outskirts of London.

Last year, a deadly uranium shipment was intercepted at Heathrow Airport in the UK, believed to be destined for Iranian citizens residing in the country. It is feared this may have been part of a plot to create a dirty bomb or conduct assassinations.

In the United States, 12 Iranians were arrested last year. A New Jersey software engineer was also sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role as a “sleeper agent” in Hezbollah’s elite unit.

Iran’s network has carried out major terror attacks or operations in the West, including in the UK, France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy, where Iranian citizens were arrested last year in a terror plot involving cyanide and ricin in Germany.

In 2021, an Iranian diplomat was convicted in Belgium for his role in a terrorist plot to bomb a conference hosted by a dissident group in Paris, attended by five British MPs.