‘READY TO STRIKE’

New Jersey Man Trained by Hezbollah Lived as ‘Sleeper Agent’: Prosecutors

Alexei Saab is accused of scoping out buildings in New York City, including the court house where his trial kicked off on Monday, for potential attacks.

An accused former sleeper agent for an elite Islamic militant group “posed as a regular guy” while secretly scoping out potential targets for terrorist attacks in the U.S., according to Manhattan prosecutors. Alexei Saab, a 45-year-old U.S. citizen since 2008, faces multiple charges related to his alleged intelligence-gathering, the most serious of which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. At Saab’s trial, which began Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Adelsberg told the jury, “He had a job as a software developer. In fact… he was a sleeper agent for Hezbollah who was ready to strike.” Saab, who was trained by Hezbollah before emigrating to the U.S. on a Lebanese passport in 2000, had been charged with surveying landmarks and buildings—including the federal courthouse where his trial is being held—in major U.S. cities for “soft spots,” according to Adelberg, scoping them out so the organization “could kill Americans if American threatened Iran, Hezbollah’s main ally.” Saab’s defense attorney claimed that his client had cut ties with the terrorist organization by 2005, arguing that the FBI agents who arrested Saab in July 2019 had violated his rights by meeting with him under false pretenses.