USA v. El Reda, Samuel Salman
Manhattan, NY

Hizballah

[SDNY] On December 20, 2023, a Manhattan federal court unsealed terrorism charges against Samuel Salman El Reda, aka Samuel Salman El Reda El Reda, Salman Raouf Salman, Sulayman Rammal, Salman Ramal, Salman Raouf Salman, and Hajj, 58, a dual Colombian-Lebanese citizen and member of Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), in connection with El Reda's alleged role leading decades of terrorist activity on behalf of Hezbollah and the IJO.

El Reda is based in Lebanon and remains at large. Beginning in at least 1993, El Reda has led terrorist operations on behalf of Hezbollah and the IJO in South America, Asia, and Lebanon. El Reda was responsible for, among other things, helping to plan and execute the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Asociaión Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds more.

El Reda's activities for Hezbollah in connection with the AMIA bombing included relaying information to IJO operatives that was used for planning and executing the attack. In the decades following the attack, El Reda continued to engage in terrorist activity on Hezbollah's behalf by recruiting, training, and managing IJO operatives around the world. El Reda deployed IJO operatives to Thailand, Panama, and Peru, among other places, to help Hezbollah and the IJO conduct pre-operational surveillance in support of attack planning and stockpile explosive precursor chemicals, including ammonium nitrate.