The U.S. Department of Justice has indicted a senior Hezbollah member for his involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina. The attack, which occurred at the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, resulted in the deaths of 85 people and injured over 300.

The accused, Colombian-Lebanese national Samuel Salman El Reda, is charged with coordinating the bombing. According to the indictment filed in Manhattan’s federal court, El Reda played a key role in the planning operations and relayed information to operatives on the ground. He continued his involvement with Hezbollah’s international activities, recruiting and training operatives for potential terrorist attacks in countries like Panama, Peru, and Thailand.

El Reda faces charges of providing and conspiring to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, and with aiding and abetting and conspiring to receive military-type training from such an organization. If convicted on all charges, El Reda could face up to 55 years in federal prison. However, he remains at large, believed to be in Lebanon.

An indictment against El Reda was filed in 2019, months after the U.S. State Department sanctioned him and offered a $7 million reward for information leading to his arrest. The reasons for the delayed public revelation of the charges were not disclosed by Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.

The indictment comes amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East, with the U.S. actively working to deter Hezbollah’s involvement in the Hamas-Israel war that started on October 7. The U.S. has issued warnings to Iran to control its Lebanese proxy and has deployed carrier groups to the Mediterranean as a military deterrent.

Hezbollah has so far limited its actions to rocket attacks and infiltration attempts against Israel, leading to evacuations of Israeli border communities and retaliatory strikes by Israel. About 100 Hezbollah operatives have been reported killed, with Israel suffering fewer than a dozen military and civilian casualties.

The 1994 AMIA bombing, the deadliest in Argentine history, involved a suicide attack with a truck filled with explosives. The long quest for justice in this case has been marked by allegations of cover-ups and political controversy. In 2015, prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who accused former Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of covering up Iran’s role in the bombing, was murdered under circumstances deemed a direct consequence of his accusations. However, in 2021, charges against Kirchner were dismissed by Argentina’s federal court.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)