NJ Man Scouted NYC, Boston Locations For Terrorist Attack: Feds

MORRISTOWN, NJ — A Morristown man is accused of scouting locations for possible terrorist attacks in New York and Boston on behalf of Hezbollah, according to the office of Geoffrey Berman, US Attorney for New York's southern district.

Alexei Saab, 42, was charged Thursday with several counts related to his support for Hezbollah, and for marriage-fraud offenses, following a July 9 arrest in New York City, Berman said.

Saab has been part of Hezbollah since 1996, prosecutors said in a court filing. He legally entered the United State using a Lebanese passport in 2000 and become a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2008. It's not clear if he lived anywhere else in America before moving to Morristown.

"As a member of the Hizballah component that coordinates external terrorist attack planning, Alexei Saab allegedly used his training to scout possible targets throughout the U.S.," Berman said in a release. "Even though Saab was a naturalized American citizen, his true allegiance was to Hizballah, the terrorist organization responsible for decades of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including U.S. citizens and military personnel."

Hizballah is another way of spelling Hezbollah.

Saab scouted locations important to Boston and New York, including Fenway Park and Quincy Market in Boston, and Statue of Liberty and Times Square in New York City. He was allegedly searching for how an attack could cause the most damage, prosecutors said.

He has been charged with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, receiving military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, and various other terror-related offenses.

With reporting by Mike Carraggi