WASHINGTON—U.S. officials are increasingly concerned about what they call a growing terrorist threat from Iran as well as an emerging al Qaeda presence in Syria, according to an annual State Department report assessing terrorism trends in 2011.
In its first report since the killing of Osama bin Laden and a number of his top lieutenants last year, the State Department reported a shift in the threat facing the U.S., away from one largely driven by al Qaeda’s core leadership in Pakistan and toward a more diffuse set of regional al Qaeda affiliates.
In what the report called “a landmark year in counterterrorism,” it said the killing of bin Laden and several other key leaders last year “puts the network on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse.”
The expanded array of terrorist threats reflects the changing national-security landscape in the wake of the Arab Spring, growing fears about a conflict with Iran, and the blows to al Qaeda’s leadership.
“We are increasingly concerned about Iran’s support for terrorism and Hezbollah’s activities,” said Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism chief, adding that both appear to have stepped up their terrorist activity in the past year and “are engaging in their most active and aggressive campaign since the 1990s.” The U.S. views Hezbollah of Lebanon as a proxy of Iran.