In October 2024, the identity and photo of Hezbollah’s leader in Latin America was revealed. According to the report released by Argentina’s Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich, he is Lebanese Hussein Ahmad Karaki, currently residing in Lebanon.
In the 1990s, as head of the Foreign Security Organization (ESO) of Iran’s proxy, Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah, Karaki was the logistics mastermind behind the bombings in Buenos Aires of the Israeli Embassy in 1992 and the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) in 1994, killing 114 people and injuring hundreds.
“The threat of the AMIA network linked to Hezbollah and Iranian interference in Latin America continues to be a latent danger for Argentina and the region,” Argentine security expert Danilo Gelman told Diálogo. “This danger persists due to several factors: impunity in the case of the AMIA bombing, the consolidation of Hezbollah’s networks in strategic areas such as the Triple Frontier, and its capacity to finance itself through illicit activities.”
Karaki was also pointed out in the Argentine report as the mind behind the attacks against Israeli targets in Brazil, which Brazilian Federal Police thwarted in November 2023 during Operation Trapiche.
“The Karaki case teaches us that Latin America remains a strategic target for Hezbollah. The person responsible for implementing important aspects of the 1994 AMIA bombing is still active 30 years later and, with his rise within Hezbollah, he has assumed a role of greater responsibility in operations in Latin America,” terrorism and national security expert Emanuele Ottolenghi told Diálogo.
Minister Bullrich warned that Karaki was also linked to foiled attacks in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. “In Colombia, in June 2021, Colombian authorities neutralized a possible assassination attempt planned by the Iranian regime in Bogotá to kill two Israeli businessmen,” Bullrich said.
The plan was part of a larger operation that also targeted U.S. citizens to avenge the neutralization of Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. The plot involved an Iranian operative, Rahmat Asadi, who had recruited two Colombians as assassins. Bullrich also spoke of another foiled assassination attempt, still in Colombia, against a former Israeli diplomat, which was to be carried out by members of a local criminal organization recruited by a Lebanese by orders of Hezbollah and Iran. Also in Peru, in March 2024, authorities arrested an Iranian named Azizi, who had recruited ex-convicts for an ambush against an Israeli businessman.
“The use of locals of the underworld is new, Iran started doing it a few years ago, while for Hezbollah it’s recent. Maybe it’s more difficult for them to move their agents, or maybe it’s a strategic choice to try to cover their tracks,” Ottolenghi said.
Hezbollah’s interest in Bolivia
According to Argentine Minister Bullrich, Karaki was also the mastermind of a foiled attack in Bolivia in 2017, when 2.5 tons of ammonium nitrate were discovered in a warehouse in the capital, La Paz. “They were prevented from blowing up a building with a car bomb on the same scale as the AMIA bombing. I assure you that Hezbollah was going to blow up an entire building,” Bullrich said.
Karaki was able to move around Latin America with ease thanks to false identities. For the Argentina bombings he used a Colombian passport in the name of Alberto Leon Nain and in 2004 a Venezuelan ID in the name of David Assi.
“However, Bolivia is still a bit of a black hole for investigators because there is a lack of information in open sources,” says Ottolenghi. According to the expert, “thanks to the strong bilateral relationship that exists between Tehran and La Paz, it is likely that Hezbollah does not need to develop a strong local presence, but remains involved in illicit trafficking with Bolivia, especially drugs, given the important role the country plays in the cocaine supply chain.”
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Bolivia is the third largest coca producer on the planet. It is also a magnet for Hezbollah, which uses drug trafficking to finance its terrorist activities. The cases of two important Lebanese drug traffickers linked to the terrorist group, Ali Issa Chamas and Khaled Khalil Majzoub, serve as examples. According to the indictment of Paraguay’s deputy anti-drug prosecutor, Marcos Alcaraz, Ali Issa Chamas, who had created an international drug trafficking network between the United States, Colombia, and Paraguay, “made the contacts for the acquisition of cocaine coming from different places, including Bolivia.” Chamas also has Paraguayan nationality and is currently imprisoned in Paraguay after spending time in the United States.
According to the World Almanac of Islamism of the American Foreign Policy Council, Venezuelan businessman of Lebanese descent Khaled Khalil Majzoub, who also has Canadian nationality, was accused of drug trafficking in Bolivia in 2017. According to Venezuelan news site El Político, Majzoub is a recognized Islamic fundamentalist and communications director of the Sheikh Ibrahim Bin Abdul Aziz Al Ibrahim Mosque in Caracas. Together with his brother, he is considered one of the most important links between the regime and Islamic fundamentalist cells, even accused of harboring alleged terrorists on Margarita Island. According to the World Almanac of Islamism, Majzoub was also implicated in the case of the relatives of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, who were arrested in 2015 in Haiti while attempting to transport 800 kilograms of cocaine to the United States. The plane was registered to Inversiones Sabenpe C.A., Majzoub’s company.
Hezbollah’s presence in Bolivia for cocaine trafficking may increase. Iran signed a security agreement with the Latin American country on July 20, 2023, to fight drug trafficking and protect its borders with its drones. The risk, experts say, is that Tehran will use the agreement to facilitate or cover up the Lebanese group’s narcotrafficking operations in Bolivia.
The AMIA network and drug trafficking
According to Argentine Minister Bullrich, Karaki also has long-standing relationships with criminal groups in Latin America, such as the Brazilian First Capital Command (PCC).
“The close contacts with the criminal world probably facilitate the logistics aspect of attack preparations to access what is needed: safe houses, warehouses, dual-use commercial products, weapons, false documents,” Ottolenghi said.
Another terrorist involved in the Buenos Aires attacks, arrested for narcotrafficking in Brazil in 2007 was Farouk Abdul Hay Omairi. A Lebanese resident of Foz do Iguaçu, on the Brazilian side of the Triple Frontier, Omairi was involved in logistics for the bombings of 1992 and 1994. In June 2023, an Argentine judge issued an international arrest warrant for him and three other AMIA terrorists. The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Omairi in 2006 for being a leading member of Hezbollah’s Triple Frontier community and serving as a coordinator for Hezbollah members in the region.
“Hezbollah has demonstrated its ability to adapt, establish strong logistical and financial networks in the region, and operate relatively freely, taking advantage of structural weaknesses such as corruption, lack of border control, and informal economies. In addition, the Triple Frontier remains a hub for illicit activities that finance terrorism, increasing the risk of further actions in the region,” Gelman said.
The Hezbollah network remains a threat in Latin America for two reasons. “Firstly, because it continues to manage, also as an intermediary, important illicit trafficking, essential for the financing of its terrorist operations. Also, because the region continues to be a breeding ground for terrorist attacks. There is a lack of legal instruments to prosecute Hezbollah, which, except for five Latin American countries, is not considered a terrorist organization,” Ottolenghi said.
The risk for the future
According to Infobae, the companies of another Hezbollah member on the Argentine authorities’ AMIA list, Salman Raouf Salman, are still active in Brazil. Another member on the list is Hussein Mounir Mouzannar, who moved from the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina closer to the Triple Frontier, to Minga Guazú in Paraguay.
Hussein Ali Gharib, also implicated in the attacks in Argentina, lives in São Paulo, Infobae reported, according to data from Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad. Gharib was arrested on July 19, 1993, at Beirut Airport, before boarding his flight to Brazil, for carrying $120,000 in counterfeit currency. With him was another Hezbollah member, Ghaleb Hassan Hamdar, whose son, Mohammad Ghaleb Hamdar, was also arrested in Peru in 2014, accused of planning a terrorist attack for Hezbollah in the Andean country. He was acquitted in 2023.
According to Infobae, Hassan Suleiman Abu-Abbas, also known as Hassan Mohamad Sleiman, lives in São Paulo. The Mossad report describes him as “a member of the 1992 Logistics Cell who also “participated in the kidnapping of Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s.” His brother, Hussein Suleiman Abu-Abbas, is one of the main actors of the 1992 bombing: He transported the explosives that served as detonators.
“The AMIA network represents a persistent threat, not only because of the potential for future terrorist acts, but also because of its ability to undermine the security and sovereignty of states through its transnational operations,” Gelman said.
According to experts, confronting the Hezbollah threat in Latin America requires a comprehensive strategy that combines international cooperation, strengthening of judicial institutions, and effective measures to dismantle the terrorist group’s financial and logistical networks.
