Nigerian officials have leveled new terrorism charges against three Lebanese men accused of conducting terror-related activities in the African country on behalf of Hezbollah. The May arrests yielded a cache of advanced weapons, including rifles, anti-tank weapons, and an RPG Nigeria’s secret service outlined that the weapons were acquired by the terror cell to be used against “Israeli and Western interests.”

The Nigerian media outlet Vanguard reported on Saturday that a legal representative for Nigeria’s State Security Service, Clifford Osagie, termed Hezbollah’s military wing a terrorist entity.

Osagie said, “We have proofs that the applicants belong to the military wing of Hezbollah which is a terrorist organization and in the coming days, this country will know more about them.”

The remark by Osagie appears to be the first explicit government acknowledgment of Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist group.

The charges come a few months after Nigerian authorities broke up and arrested a different Iran-backed terror cell made up of three Nigerians.

Counter-terrorism analysts have been calling renewed attention to the scope and tempo of global terror campaigns being conducted by Iran and its proxies. A recently published expose uncovered a continent-wide arms network in Africa created by Iran and linked to “spectacular” state and non-state violence.

[Photo: Euronews / Youtube]