US charges Colombian-Lebanese Hezbollah member in Argentina bombing
The US alleged Samuel Salman El Reda helped Hezbollah perpetrate the deadly 1994 attack against a Jewish community center in the Argentinian capital, following sanctions related to the attack earlier this year.
US federal prosecutors announced on Wednesday charges against a Lebanese-Colombian citizen, accusing him of working with Hezbollah in the deadly 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina.
Samuel Salman El Reda received a number of terrorism charges. According to the US Attorney’s Office in New York City, Reda allegedly joined Hezbollah in or around 1993 and developed connections to Iranian diplomat Mohsen Rabbani and Lebanese alleged Hezbollah operative Assad Ahmad Barakat. In 1994, Reda allegedly “helped Hezbollah plan and execute” the bombing of the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.
The Argentine Israeli Mutual Association is a Jewish community center in the Argentine capital city. A suicide bomber drove a bomb-laden van into the center, killing 85 people and injuring hundreds. The US and Argentina have both long accused Hezbollah and its primary supporter, Iran, of involvement in the attack, charges both deny.
#BREAKING: @TheJusticeDept has indicted #Hezbollah's Samuel Salman El Reda, who has headed its IJO's terror plots in South America, Asia, and Lebanon. He also participated in the bombing of AMIA in 1994. https://t.co/xYFSDjEiX3 pic.twitter.com/ZLVvC9ktf4
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) December 20, 2023
The Attorney’s Office further alleged that Reda helped train and recruit Hezbollah members from roughly 2007 to 2015. Acting mostly from Lebanon, he allegedly sent Hezbollah operatives to Thailand, Panama, Peru and other places to plot attacks.
