Israel's Counterterror Bureau Warns of Iran-Hizbullah Plots

The Israeli National Security Council’s counterterrorism bureau has warned that Iran's Quds Force operatives and Hizbullah are plotting attacks ahead of the Passover vacation season.

Twenty-seven countries have been designated by the bureau as being under a travel alert of varying severity, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Turkey, Kenya, Nigeria and Azerbaijan have been classified under the “ongoing potential threat” category, which is the third most severe warning type, it said.

The bureau considered the Sinai Peninsula as a place with a very high, concrete threat level, urging Israelis to stay away from the area.

The newspaper quoted a bureau source as saying that Iran and Hizbullah have clearly divided up attacks between them and that the travel alerts are based on information made available from Israel’s intelligence services.

Bulgaria blamed Hizbullah last month for a July bombing in the Black Sea resort of Burgas which killed five Israeli tourists and their driver.

In Cyprus, the trial is under way of a man with joint Lebanese and Swedish nationality who has reportedly admitted to belonging to Hizbullah, and who is suspected of planning attacks on Israeli targets.

Israel has been in touch with foreign government and local police officials in countries such as Cyprus, Greece, Turkey, Thailand and India, the counterterrorism bureau source told the Jerusalem Post.

Any country hosting a large number of Israeli tourists has been contacted by the Jewish state to request a stepped-up security presence, the source added.