US announces terrorism charges against high-ranking Hezbollah member

Samuel Salman El Reda accused of participating in operations on behalf of Lebanese group, including 1994 Buenos Aires bombing

Hezbollah supporters rally in the southern city of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, in May last year. AFP

The US Justice Department has announced terrorism charges against a high-ranking member of the Lebanese group Hezbollah accused of planning a number of operations across South America.

A Manhattan federal court on Wednesday unsealed the terrorism charges against Samuel Salman El Reda, a dual Colombian-Lebanese citizen, who is part of Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organisation.

The IJO, also known as the External Security Organisation and Unit 910, is “a component of Hezbollah responsible for the planning and co-ordination of intelligence, counter-intelligence and terrorist activities on behalf of the group outside of Lebanon”, a statement from the Justice Department said.

Mr El Reda, who currently lives in Lebanon, has been charged with “conspiring to provide and providing material support to Hezbollah, a designated foreign terrorist organisation”, among other offences.

In particular, Mr El Reda has been accused of helping to plan and carry out the 1994 bombing of the Asociacion Mutual Israelita Argentina building in Buenos Aires.

The attack, which killed 85 people, was the worst terrorist attack in Argentina's history.

“This indictment serves as a message to those who engage in acts of terror: that the Justice Department’s memory is long, and we will not relent in our efforts to bring them to justice,” said Matthew Olsen, assistant attorney general at the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

In September, the US sanctioned several Hezbollah operatives in South America and Lebanon that Washington accused of generating revenue for the group's terrorist activities.