MIDTOWN — The feds nabbed a Bronx man who they say trained with the Islamist militant group Hezbollah and scoped out hotspots across the city for potential terror attacks.
Ali Kourani, 32, eyed military and intelligence locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn as well as airports in the area for the Lebanese-based terror group, prosecutors said.
He twice received sophisticated military training abroad — including learning how to fire a rocket-propelled grenade, the feds said.
Kourani, who also goes by “Jacob Lewis,” learned how to use these weapons when he was just 16 and came to the U.S. legally in 2003. Six years ago, he went back to Lebanon and also learned how to fire an assault rifle and a submachine gun, prosecutors said.
"New York City region remains a focus of many adversaries, demonstrated as alleged in this instance by followers of a sophisticated and determined organization with a long history of coordinating violent activities on behalf of Hezbollah," FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said.
He was arrested last week and faces a slew of charges including providing material support and resources for terrorism and receiving military training from a designated terrorist organization.
The feds nabbed also nabbed a Michigan man in connection with the plot.
Samer El Debek, 37, traveled to Panama in 2011, then did the same in 2012, this time passing through New York and New Jersey, prosecutors said.
He conducted more than 250 Facebook searches using terms like “Hizballah martyrs” and “Martyrs of Islamic resistance” since November 2014, the feds said.
Debek is also charged with providing material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
They were both ordered held without bail at their arraignments.
Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
