As the United States begins what could be a lengthy military campaign against the Islamic State or ISIS, intelligence and law enforcement officials said another Syrian group, led by a shadowy figure who was once among Osama bin Laden?s inner circle, posed a more direct threat to America and Europe.
American officials said that the group called Khorasan had emerged in the past year as the cell in Syria that may be the most intent on hitting the United States or its installations overseas with a terror attack. The officials said that the group is led by Muhsin al-Fadhli, a senior Qaeda operative who, according to the State Department, was so close to Bin Laden that he was among a small group of people who knew about the September 11, 2001, attacks before they were launched.
There is almost no public information about the Khorasan group, which was described by several intelligence, law enforcement and military officials as being made up of Qaeda operatives from across the Middle East, South Asia and North Africa. Members of the cell are said to be particularly interested in devising terror plots using concealed explosives. It is unclear who, besides Fadhli, is part of the Khorasan group.
The director of national intelligence, James R Clapper Jr, said on Thursday that ?in terms of threat to the homeland, Khorasan may pose as much of a danger as the Islamic State.?
Some American officials and national security experts said the intense focus on the Islamic State had distorted the picture of the terrorism threat that has emerged from the chaos of Syria?s civil war, and that the more immediate threats still come from traditional terror groups like Khorasan and the Nusra Front, which is al-Qaeda?s designated affiliate in Syria.
Fadhli, 33, has been tracked by American intelligence agencies for at least a decade. According to the State Department, before Fadhli arrived in Syria, he had been living in Iran as part of a small group of Qaeda operatives who had fled to the country from Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. Iran?s government said the group was living under house arrest, but the exact circumstances of the Qaeda operatives were disputed for years, and many members of the group ultimately left Iran for Pakistan, Syria and other countries.
In 2012, the State Department identified Fadhli as al-Qaeda?s leader in Iran, directing ?the movement of funds and operatives? through the country. A $7 million reward was offered for information leading to his capture. The same release said he was working with wealthy ?jihadist donors? in Kuwait to raise money for Qaeda-allied rebels in Syria.
– MARK MAZZETTI, MICHAEL S SCHMIDT & BEN HUBBARD