Morristown Man Aided Hezbollah To Scope Out U.S. Landmarks For Terrorist Attacks: Feds

NEW YORK — A Morristown man, who was charged in 2019 for his role in aiding Hezbollah, scouted major U.S. landmarks for possible terrorist attacks, a prosecutor told jurors Monday. Alexei Saab lived a double life as a software engineer by day and a "terrorist and spy" by night from 2000 to 2005, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Samuel Adelsberg.

Authorities detained Saab in July 2019 after charging him with a nine-count indictment related to alleged support for Hezbollah’s Islamic Jihad Organization. Saab scoped potential targets for attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., France, Turkey and the Czech Republic, Adelsberg said.

The man's researched targets included the United Nations headquarters, Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Terminal, all three New York-area airports, the Brooklyn, the Triborough and George Washington bridges and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels connecting New Jersey to Manhattan, federal prosecutors said.

In court documents, investigators said Saab told agents that he took photos of different locations, including the Capitol Building, the White House and the Prudential Center in Boston. Investigators found a video of Fenway Park in Saab's electronic devices, according to authorities.

Marlon Kirton, Saab's lawyer, argued that all evidence in the case came from Saab himself and couldn't be considered reliable. He also noted that Hezbollah hasn't attacked Americans on U.S. soil.

Saab joined Hezbollah in 1996, according to federal prosecutors. He lawfully entered the United States in 2000 using a Lebanese passport. In 2005, Saab applied for naturalized citizenship, falsely claiming — under penalty of perjury — that he had never been “a member of or in any way associated with . . . a terrorist organization,” according to authorities.

In 2008, Saab became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

While living in the United States, Saab continued to receive military training from Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to federal prosecutors. In particular, he focused on the structural weaknesses of locations he surveilled to determine how a future attack could cause the most destruction, authorities said.

Saab pleaded not guilty to several charges, including providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy, receiving military-type training from a foreign terrorist organization, unlawful procurement of citizenship to facilitate international terrorism and citizenship application fraud.

He's also facing a marriage-fraud charge for marrying a co-conspirator in 2012 under false pretenses, authorities said. Saab's attorney didn't contest that charge.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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