U.S. Attorney Announces Terrorism Charges Against High-Ranking Hizballah Member Who Helped Plan 1994 Bombing In Buenos Aires, Argentina

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Matthew G. Olsen, the Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, James Smith, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Edward A. Caban, the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (“NYPD”), announced the unsealing of terrorism charges against SAMUEL SALMAN EL REDA, a/k/a “Samuel Salman El Reda El Reda,” a/k/a “Salman Raouf Salman,” a/k/a “Sulayman Rammal,” a/k/a “Salman Ramal,” a/k/a “Salman Raouf Salman,” a/k/a “Hajj,” a dual Colombian-Lebanese citizen and member of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization (“IJO”), in connection with EL REDA’s alleged role leading decades of terrorist activity on behalf of Hizballah and the IJO. EL REDA is charged with, among other offenses, conspiring to provide and providing material support to Hizballah, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The charges are contained in an Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court. EL REDA is based in Lebanon and remains at large.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said: “Nearly three decades ago, long-time Hizballah terrorist operative Samuel Salman El Reda allegedly helped plan and execute the heinous attack on a Buenos Aires Jewish community center that murdered 85 innocent people and injured countless others. 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.”

Read more: Department of Justice