The
United States has expressed support for Argentina’s efforts to bring to justice
the culprits of the deadly 1994 terrorist attack on a Jewish community center
in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people.
The
Argentinean prosecutor’s office believes that the Iranian-backed Lebanese
Hezbollah was responsible for that bombing and that the execution order had
come from the highest authorities in Iran.
Ambassador
Nathan Sales, US coordinator for counterterrorism, delivered keynote remarks on
the significance of the attack and continuing concerns regarding terrorist
financing in the western hemisphere. He said the administration of the US
President Donald Trump is working with Argentinean authorities, along with
officials from other Latin American governments, to bring both the Iranian
regime’s officials and Lebanese Hezbollah to justice.
In
1982, exploiting a political power vacuum in Lebanon, the Iranian regime sent
in a thousand-man strong group of Revolutionary Guard agents into the country
to train and equip a Shiite group that sided with Khomeini to create the
terrorist Lebanon Hezbollah. The aim of the Iranian regime was to create a
military and political presence in the heart of the Middle East for itself.
Iran’s most important tool for spreading terrorism in the Middle East
Over
the past 35 years, Hezbollah acted as the Iranian regime’s most important tool
for spreading fundamentalism in the Middle East. Some of its most important
roles in this regard include participating in the Syrian war on behalf of the
Iranian regime, delivering arms and missiles to and training Yemen’s Houthi
militias, training Iraqi militias with ties to the Iranian regime, and participating
in terrorist attacks on a global level, such as the bombing of AMIA, a Jewish
center in Argentina’s Buenos Aires. Hezbollah was also behind the murder of
Rafiq Hariri, Lebanon’s former prime minister.
After
the 2005 terrorist attack in Lebanon that left Rafiq Hariri and 21 others dead,
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) was created to carry out the
investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators.
On
March 1, 2009, the STL officially opened. The four accused individuals –
Mustafa Badreddine, Salim al-Ayyash, Assad Sabra and Hassan Oneissi – were
trialed in absentia. The STL is unique among international criminal tribunals
in that it can hold trials in absentia, and it is the first to deal with
terrorism as a distinct crime.
International
and regional stances towards Hezbollah
The
United States first designated Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a terrorist organization
in 1997. Canada, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
followed suit with similar designations.
The
GCC has blacklisted Hezbollah, its military wing, its leaders and its offshoots
and linked groups.
The
European Union has blacklisted the military wing of Hezbollah. According to
Reuters and AFP, Hezbollah’s terrorist activities on European soil led the EU
to blacklist the group.
Diplomatic
sources in Brussels indicate that Hezbollah’s activities to send militants to
Syria to help Bashar al-Assad has helped change the balance in favor of
blacklisting the group in EU.
The
Combating Terrorism Center (CTC), a US military think tank in West Point,
published a report last August listing an ever-growing catalog of the Iranian
regime’s terrorist attacks and activities in the region and on a global scale,
including to the regime’s latest attempt to bomb an opposition political rally
in Paris.
The
CTC called on the European Union to include Hezbollah in its entirety on the
EU’s list of terrorist organizations.
“The
international response to Iran’s international terrorist activity should not be
limited to law enforcement action alone. A regulatory action would also be
helpful, and it is worth noting there have been calls for the European Union to
designate not just Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist group but to
include the organization in its entirety, as well as expanded financial and
diplomatic sanctions,” the report stated.
Referring
to an Iranian terrorist diplomat that was recently detained in Europe, the
report concluded that “in the wake of the Assadi affair, the State Department
released timelines and maps depicting select incidents of Iranian-sponsored
operational activities in Europe from 1979 to 2018, including both incidents
involving Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, as well as those carried out by Iranian
agents themselves. Developing an appreciation for the extent of Iranian
operations in Europe over the years is important and not just as some kind of
academic exercise.”
Hezbollah’s
financial sources
In
addition to Iranian arms and money, Hezbollah makes money by trafficking
illegal drugs to Europe and South America.
In
a TV interview with Iranian-backed television, Hezbollah leader Hassan
Nasrallah openly admitted that Iran provides his group with money, arms,
missiles, food and clothing.
