NYPD: Qaeda and Hizbullah biggest terrorist threats
Vice-Commissioner of New York Police Department for combating terrorism Richard Volkenrath said Friday “the biggest terrorist threat against New York City is Al Qaeda organization and the second biggest threat is Hizbullah.”
“Al-Qaeda’s threat is derived from its antagonism against the United States, while Hizbullah’s threat is derived from its ability to launch attacks outside the Lebanese territories”, he said.
In a lecture he delivered about combating terrorism organized by the Washington Research Center, Volkenrath said the Qaeda’s continuous efforts and its obvious intention to attack the US have failed during the last few years.
Volkenrath said “despite Hizbullah’s strategic decision not to attack the US, this reality might change if the US attacked the Lebanese Shiite party or its Iranian guardian.”
The NYPD officer ruled out the possibility of “a mass destruction attack” against the US; however he warned that “these weapons (mass destruction) have become more accessible than they were in the last decade.”
He added that the threat of “inside terrorism” is growing; pointing that NY is “the first target of terrorism given the city’s symbolic significance and the destructive consequences of any successful attack.”