Shin Bet busts Lebanon-directed West Bank terror cells; 5 Palestinian suspects indicted

The Shin Bet says it has foiled a West Bank-based terror network that was being directed by figures in Lebanon with ties to Hamas and Hezbollah.

According to the security agency, the network was tasked with photographing an Israeli settlement, and its members underwent firearms training ahead of carrying out an attack.

Five members of the cell, all Palestinians from the West Bank, have been indicted.

In October 2025, the Shin Bet says, a Palestinian from the West Bank village of Anza, Mohammad Sadka, was detained on suspicion of planning a terror attack

The Shin Bet says its interrogation of Sadka revealed that he had traveled to Lebanon, where he was recruited by a Lebanese man, Musa Abu Saif, also known as Jibril, for the purpose of recruiting others for the terror network.

After returning to the West Bank from Lebanon, via Jordan, Sadka “recruited additional operatives to carry out attacks, including Mohammad Khalil, a resident of Ramallah, and Mohammad Barahmeh, a resident of Anza, who were also arrested for Shin Bet questioning,” the agency says.

The Shin Bet says Sadka remained in contact with figures in Lebanon “through correspondence on social networks and via gaming applications.”

At the same time, the Shin Bet says, another terror cell being managed by the same Lebanese figures was also uncovered, and two Palestinians from the village of Tell, Dia a-Din Hamad and Nasser Asida, were arrested.

The agency says its interrogation revealed that those two Palestinians were recruited by a Lebanese terror operative going by the name of Mujahid, alongside other Lebanese figures calling themselves Abu Ahmad and Abu Wahid. The Lebanese figures would maintain contact with the Palestinians on social media, it says.

“As part of their recruitment, the two carried out firearms training in preparation for carrying out an attack, were asked to photograph a community in Samaria (the northern West Bank), and arrangements were made with them for the transfer of funds for the purchase of weapons,” the security agency says.

The Shin Bet says that it emerged from its investigations and intelligence-gathering operations that the head of the infrastructure in Lebanon that worked to recruit the two terror cells is Mujahid Dahsha, “a resident of Lebanon with ties to Hamas and Hezbollah operatives.”