Hezbollah (65 page)

54.
Hussein Dakroub, “Bodies of 77 Lebanese Killed in Benin Crash Flown Home,” Associated Press, December 28, 2003.

55.
Jihad Saqlaoui, “Lebanese Village in Mourning after Plane Crash in West Africa,” Agence France Presse, December 26, 2003.

56.
Ibid.

57.
Hamid Ghiryafi, “Hezbollah Officials Carrying Donations Reportedly Killed in Lebanese Plane Crash,”
al-Siyasah
(Kuwait), December 29, 2003.

58.
“Final Report Accident on 25 December 2003 at Conomou Cadjehous Aerodrome (Benin) to the Boeing 727-223 Registered 3X-GDO Operated by UTA (Union des Transports Africains),”
Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses
(France: BEA), December 15, 2010.

59.
Mysterious Passengers, Loads of Cash Puzzle Investigators into Christmas Crash,”
Naharnet
(Lebanon), January 8, 2004.

60.
Mariam Karouny, “Benin Plane Crash Deaths Rise to 111,” Reuters, December 26, 2003; “Hizbullah Denies any Links to the UTA Plane Crash,”
Daily Star
(Lebanon), January 14, 2004.

61.
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies, “Hezbollah (part 1): Profile of the Lebanese Shiite Terrorist Organization of Global Reach Sponsored by Iran and Supported by Syria,” June 2003; author interview with Israeli intelligence official, Tel Aviv, July 2003.

62.
Ibid.

63.
Ibid.

64.
Statement of Douglas Farah,
Confronting Drug Trafficking in West Africa
.

65.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Targets Hizballah Network in Africa,” press release, May 27, 2009.

66.
Hudson, “Lebanese Businessmen and Hezbollah in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

67.
US Department of State, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, “Country Reports on Terrorism 2009,” August 2010; Agence France Presse, “Imam Deported from Abidjan, Accused by US of Funding Hezbollah,” August 9, 2009.

68.
Hudson, “Lebanese Businessmen and Hezbollah.”

69.
US Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service,
Hezbollah: Background and Issues for Congress
.

70.
Author interview with US intelligence official, Washington, DC, July 2003.

71.
“Chief Extremist Arrested in Foz Trying to Flee to Angola,”
ABC Digital
(Paraguay), June 26, 2002.

72.
Author interview conducted via email, March 24, 2004.

73.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Targets Hizballah Network in Africa.”

74.
Ibid.

75.
“Coin in the Congo: The Moral Bankruptcy of the World Bank’s Industrial Logging Model,”
Carving Up the Congo
part 3, Greenpeace, April 11, 2007, p. 34.

76.
Mona Alami, “Disproportionate Loss,”
NOWLebanon
, January 27, 2010; Tony Badran, “Hezbollah Acts Local, Thinks Global,”
NOWLebanon
, June 22, 2010.

77.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Targets Hizballah Financial Network,” press release, December 9, 2010.

78.
Ibid.

79.
Ibid.

80.
Ana Maria Luca, “Out of Africa,”
NOWLebanon
, September 30, 2011.

81.
Tony Badran, “Hezbollah Acts Local, Thinks Global,”
NOWLebanon
, June 22, 2010; Blanford,
Warriors of God
, 424–29.

82.
Palmer Harik,
Hezbollah: Changing Face of Terrorism
, 84.

83.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Hizballah’s Construction Arm,” press release, February 20, 2007.

84.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Targets Hizballah Financial Network,” December 9, 2010.

85.
Blanford,
Warriors of God
, 424–25.

86.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Targets Hizballah Financial Network.”

87.
Ana Maria Luca, “Out of Africa.”

88.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Targets Hizballah Financial Network.”

89.
US Department of the Treasury, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, “Finding That the Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL Is a Financial Institution of Primary Laundering Concern,” February 10, 2011.

90.
United States of America v. Hassan Hodroj et al
., Smemo Affidavit, United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, November 24, 2009.

91.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More: How al Qaeda Moved into the Diamond Trade,” April 2003, 24.

92.
Gberie, “War and Peace in Sierra Leone.”

93.
Douglas Farah, “Hezbollah’s External Support Network in West Africa and Latin America,” International Assessment and Strategy Center, August 4, 2006.

94.
Hudson, “Lebanese Businessmen and Hezbollah.”

95.
Farah, “Hezbollah’s External Support Network.”

96.
US CIA, “Lebanese in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

97.
Ibid.

98.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 24.

99.
Associated Press, “Hezbollah Extorting Funds from West Africa’s Diamond Trade,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), June 30, 2004.

100.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 9.

101.
Ibid.

102.
Douglas Farah, “Al Qaeda Cash Tied to Diamond Trade; Sale of Gems from Sierra Leone Rebels Raised Millions, Sources Say,”
Washington Post
, November 2, 2001.

103.
Statement of Alan W. Easthman,
U.S. Government Role in Fighting the Conflict Diamond Trade
.

104.
US Senator Dick Durbin, “Durbin Hearing Confirms Conflict Diamond-Terrorist Link,” press release, February 13, 2002.

105.
Douglas Farah, “Liberian Is Accused of Harboring Al-Qaeda,”
Washington Post
, May 15, 2003, A18.

106.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 20. Also see report endnote 53: “Angolan Diamond Smuggling: The Part Played by Belgium,”
Service General du Renseignement et de la Security (Sgr
), July 2000.

107.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 21.

108.
Statement of Alan W. Easthman,
U.S. Government Role in Fighting the Conflict Diamond Trade
.

109.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 21.

110.
Ibid., 21–24.

111.
Author telephone interview with former US intelligence and law enforcement official, January 21, 2011.

112.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 42; Farah, “Al Qaeda Cash Tied to Diamond Trade.” Global Witness places Bah in Afghanistan in the late 1980s, while Farah has him there in the early 1980s. While there is discrepancy regarding the specific dates, these and other sources concur on the places where Bah trained and fought.

113.
Farah,
Blood from Stones
, 71–72.

114.
Farah, “Al Qaeda Cash Tied to Diamond Trade.”

115.
Ibid.

116.
Douglas Farah, “Digging up Congo’s Dirty Gems: Officials Say Diamond Trade Funds Radical Islamic Groups,”
Washington Post
, December 30, 2001.

117.
Farah,
Blood from Stones
, 60–61.

118.
Antwerp, Belgium, Belgian Police Diamond Section, GDA Antwerp, “Case LIBI,” September 10, 2001.

119.
United Nations, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Office of the Prosecutor, “Presence of al-Qaeda in West Africa: Independent Source Findings,” 2004.

120.
Author interview with Douglas Farah, email, November 23, 2011.

121.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 43–44; Peter Finn and Pamela Rolfe, “Calls Central to Spain’s Sept. 11 Case: Indictment Reveals Cryptic References,”
Washington Post
, November 21, 2001.

122.
Farah, “Hezbollah’s External Support Network.”

123.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 24.

124.
Statement of Frank C. Urbancic,
Hezbollah’s Global Reach
.

125.
Ora Cohen, “Israelis in West Africa: We Live in Hezbollah State,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), August 5, 2008.

126.
United States of America v. Lebanese Canadian Bank SAL et al
., Verified Complaint, 11 CIV 9186, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, December 15, 2011.

127.
Ibid.; Jo Becker, “Beirut Bank Seen as a Hub of Hezbollah’s Financing,”
New York Times
, December 13, 2011.

128.
Jacque Neriah, “An Iranian Intelligence Failure: Arms Ship in Nigeria Reveals Iran’s Penetration of West Africa,”
Jerusalem Issue Briefs
10, no. 35 (April 7, 2011), Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

129.
US CIA, “Overview of State-Supported Terrorism in 1985.”

130.
US CIA, “Lebanese in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

131.
Farah, “Hezbollah’s External Support Network.”

132.
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies, “Hezbollah (part 1),” 91.

133.
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies, “Iran’s Activity in East Africa, the Gateway to the Middle East and the African Continent,” July 29, 2009.

134.
Global Witness, “For a Few Dollars More,” 24.

135.
Agence France Presse, “Morocco Cuts Ties with Iran: Foreign Ministry,” March 6, 2009.

136.
Claude Salhani, “Special Report: Hezbollah Active in Nigeria,”
Middle East Times
, June 3, 2008.

137.
Neriah, “Iran Steps Up Arming Hizbullah against Israel.”

138.
Universal Strategy Group,
Directed Study of Lebanese Hezbollah
, produced for the United States Special Operations Command, Research and Analysis Division, October 2010, 41.

139.
Israeli intelligence report, “Iranian Intelligence Activity in Uganda,” undated. Corroborated in separate author interview with Israeli intelligence official, Tel Aviv, July 2003.

140.
Ibid.

141.
See, for example, United Nations Monitoring Committee, Panel of Experts Established Pursuant to Resolution 1929 (2010), final report, May 17, 2011; Neriah, “An Iranian Intelligence Failure.”

142.
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IDF Spokesman, “Shaul Mofaz Regarding Interception of Ship
Karine
A,” January 4, 2002.

143.
See Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, IDF Spokesman, “Seizing of the Palestinian Weapons Ship
Karine
A,” January 4, 2002.

144.
Choksy, “Iran Takes on the World,” 62.

145.
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Seizing of the Palestinian Weapons Ship
Karine
A”; Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center, “Iranian Support of Hamas,” January 12, 2008, 16n9.

146.
Amos Harel, “Hezbollah Paid for
Karine A
, PA Paid for Arms,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), February 1, 2002. A “senior U.S. official” confirmed then–Israeli defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer’s contention regarding Mughniyeh’s role. See Matthew Lee, “Top Israeli Security Official Calls Palestinian Arms Ship Probe ‘Absurd,’” Agence France Presse, January 10, 2002.

147.
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Seizing of the Palestinian Weapons Ship
Karine A
”; Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, “Iranian Support of Hamas,” January 12, 2008, 16n9.

148.
Israel Defense Forces, Military Intelligence, “Iran and Syria as Strategic Support for Palestinian Terrorism,” September 2002. Report based on the interrogations of arrested Palestinian terrorists and captured Palestinian Authority documents.

149.
Harel, “Hezbollah Paid for
Karine A
.”

150.
Jennifer Griffin, “Prison Interview with Palestinian Ship Captain Smuggling 50 Tons of Weapons,”
Fox News
, January 7, 2002.

151.
Sharon Sadeh, “EU Says
Karine-A
Affair Changed Mideast Conflict,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), February 7, 2002.

152.
Israel Defense Forces, Military Intelligence, “Iran and Syria as Strategic Support.”

153.
Greg Myre, “Israel Says Explosives Expert Was on Fishing Boat It Seized,”
New York Times
, May 22, 2003.

154.
“How Israel Foiled an Arms Convoy Bound for Hamas,”
Time
, March 30, 2009.

155.
Reuters, “Hamas Military Commander Killed in Sudan Air Strike,”
Jerusalem Post
, April 6, 2011.

156.
Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, “Sudan Opposition: Bombed Arms Factory Belongs to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), October 24, 2012.

157.
“Alleged Israeli Attack Draws Attention to Sudan’s Ties to Iran,”
VOA News
, April 1, 2009.

158.
US CIA, “Hizballah Ties to Egyptian Fundamentalists.”

159.
Aidan Hartley, “U.S. Says Hizbollah May Plan Car Bombs in Somalia,” Reuters, November 15, 1993.

160.
United Nations Security Council, Report of the Monitoring Group on Somalia pursuant to Security Council resolution 1676 (2006), S/2006/913, November 22, 2006.

161.
Ibid.

162.
Tenet,
At the Center of the Storm
, 352.

163.
US Department of State, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Office of the Secretary of State, “Overview of State Sponsored Terrorism,”
Patterns of Global Terrorism 1999
, April 2000.

164.
National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States,
9/11 Commission Report
, released July 22, 2004, 240.