By Dave Clark (AFP) –

WASHINGTON — The United States warned Friday that Syria’s allies Iran and Hezbollah could be planning attacks in Europe, as Washington boosted sanctions against the beleaguered Damascus regime.

The State Department and US Treasury unveiled fresh measures in response to the mounting conflict in Syria, where 21,000 people have been killed in the violence of the past 17 months in the face of a diplomatic stalemate.

But a senior US security official warned the Western pressure might not succeed without cost, with Iran and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah allegedly plotting revenge attacks on Western or Israeli targets.

“Our assessment is that Hezbollah and Iran will both continue to maintain a heightened level of terrorist activity in operations in the near future,” said Daniel Benjamin, the US State Department’s counter-terrorism coordinator.

“We are increasingly concerned about Hezbollah’s activities on a number of fronts, including its stepped up terrorist campaign around the world,” he said.

“And we assess that Hezbollah could attack in Europe or elsewhere at any time with little or no warning,” he said in a conference call with reporters to announce that Syria’s oil firm Syrtol had been placed under sanctions.

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