Law enforcement agencies around the globe are widening their efforts to
dismantle the illicit activities and financial networks of Iran-backed proxy m


<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
Hezbollah Operatives Extradited As Law Enforcement Expands Efforts To Thwart
Terror Operations Abroad

(New York, N.Y.) – Law enforcement agencies around the globe are widening
their efforts to dismantle the illicit activities and financial networks of
Iran-backed proxy militias. In July, the United States and Paraguay moved to
disruptHezbollah <[link removed]>’s
infrastructure and terror-financing apparatus with the extradition of two key
operatives and financiers,Ghassan Diab
<[link removed]> and Assad Ahmad
Barakat <[link removed]>.

Diab is facing
<[link removed]>
multiple U.S. felony charges for a series of money-laundering incidents.
Barakat standsaccused
<[link removed]>
in Paraguay of charges related to his role as a chief military and financial
operator for Hezbollah in the South American Tri-Border Area (TBA). The
proceedings against Barakat are particularly significant. Paraguay has
successfully prosecuted terrorists from groups such as Hezbollah, but the most
notorious of these individuals—including Barakat’s cousin,Mohammed Fayez Barakat
<[link removed]>—have
escaped or been released from prison. Paraguaydesignated
<[link removed]>
Hezbollah, Hamas, al-Qaeda, and ISIS as terrorist organizations in August 2019.

Authorities’ increased focus on the TBA region straddling the intersection of
Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil may be a significant disruption to Iran-backed
Hezbollah. Known as the “Golden Hydra
<[link removed]>
” for its position as the lucrative regional entry point for transnational
criminal organizations and terrorist groups, the TBA is a home for
sophisticated and well-entrenched terror bases of operations to conduct
money-laundering schemes and narcotics operations. Law enforcement in the
region estimates that Hezbollah raises $200 million a year in the TBA.

To read the Counter Extremism Project (CEP)’s report The Many Criminal Heads
Of The Golden Hydra, please click here
<[link removed]>
.

Argentina <[link removed]>, Paraguay
<[link removed]>, and Brazil
<[link removed]> coordinate counterterrorism
efforts in the TBA through a joint Trilateral Tri-Border Area Command. However,
institutional corruption and inadequate funding and resources have hindered the
Command’s efforts to combat illicit activity in the TBA, which the U.S.
National Security Agency and the Pentagon have called “the most important base
of Hezbollah outside Lebanon.” Since the mid-1980s, Hezbollah hasreportedly
operated <[link removed]> sleeper
cells, conducted fundraising activities, and plotted attacks within the TBA.

Intelligence and media reports have also suggested that Hezbollah has
cooperated with al-Qaeda in the TBA as part of a broader strategic alliance.
Al-Qaeda’s roots in the region trace back to 1995, when Osama bin Laden and
future 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed traveled to the TBA and
participated in meetings at local mosques. Together, these U.S.-designated
Foreign Terrorist Organizations actively recruit, plan attacks, and fundraise
in the TBA, and withinBrazil
<[link removed]>
specifically as Brasília allows internationally sanctioned extremists
affiliated with al-Qaeda and Hezbollah to reside in the country without
repercussion.

To read CEP’s Assad Ahmad Barakat resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

To read CEP’s Mohammed Fayez Barakat resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

To read CEP’s Ghassan Diab resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

To read CEP’s Argentina resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.


To read CEP’s Paraguay resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

To read CEP’s Brazil resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

To read CEP’s Hezbollah resource, please click here
<[link removed]>.

 

###

Unsubscribe
<[link removed]>