BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentinian authorities designated Hezbollah, which it blames for two attacks on its soil, a terrorist organization on Thursday and ordered the freezing of the Lebanese Islamist group’s assets in the country.

The announcement coincided with a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as Argentina marks the 25th anniversary of the deadly bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in which 85 people died. Argentina blames Iran and Hezbollah for the attack. Both deny any responsibility.

Argentina also blames Hezbollah for an attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 that killed 29 people.

The Argentine government’s Financial Information Unit, ordered the freezing of assets of members of Hezbollah and the organization a day after the country created a new list for people and entities linked to terrorism.

“At present, Hezbollah continues to represent a current threat to security and the integrity of the economic and financial order of the Argentine Republic,” the unit said in a statement.

The freezing of assets automatically places Hezbollah on Argentina’s registry, designating it a terrorist organization, a government source with direct knowledge of the action confirmed. The designation is the first by any country in Latin America.

Last year, Argentina froze the assets of 14 members of the Barakat Clan, an extended family that officials say has close ties to Hezbollah.

U.S. and Argentine officials say Hezbollah operates in what is known as the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where an illicit economy funds its operations elsewhere.

It is not yet clear whether Argentina’s new designation will lead to other concrete actions against Hezbollah in the area, but some kind of U.S. security support, including increased intelligence sharing, could follow, said Benjamin Gedan, director of the Wilson Center’s Argentina Project in Washington.

Argentina’s decision to join the United States in designating Hezbollah a terrorist group is a significant win for President Donald Trump’s administration and could put pressure on Brazil and Paraguay to follow suit, Gedan said.

The United States, looking to revive a security relationship that suffered after a souring in diplomatic ties during the previous administration of President Cristina Fernandez, views President Mauricio Macri as a partner, particularly as traditional European allies have been slower to offer support amid U.S. tensions with Iran.

“Clearly, they are not a good replacement for European allies, because they don’t engage Iran significantly, so they cannot put on the same commercial and economic pressure as the Europeans,” Gedan said of Washington’s allies in Latin America.

“But at least it gives the impression that the Trump administration is not standing alone,” he said, adding that the United States put significant pressure on Argentina to prepare the announcement in time for Pompeo’s visit.

Other U.S. allies that designate Hezbollah or its military wing a terrorist organization include Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union and Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz was quick to praise Argentina’s action, tweeting that Israel welcomed Macri’s “important decision” to recognize Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.

“The entire world must unite in the struggle against the terror activities by Iran and its proxies,” Katz added.

Argentina’s investigation into the 1994 truck bomb attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA), meanwhile, has made little progress. No one has been brought to trial in either that case or the Israeli embassy bombing. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina's capital, killing 85 people.

The nation's Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri's government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.

"At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic," the unit said.

It's not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation's worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the people who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

"How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?" asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

"We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice," he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday and attend a meeting of international officials on fighting terrorism.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina's capital, killing 85 people.

The nation's Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri's government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. Hundreds were injured in both bombings.

"At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic," the unit said.

It's not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation's worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the former officials and ex-diplomats who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

"How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?" asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

"We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice," he added.

The investigation into the attack was plagued with irregularities from the start. A court in 2004 absolves about 20 people who initially had been accused of being the "local connection" for the attack and called for an investigation into a possible coverup by the government of President Carlos Menem, who had left office in 1999.

A court this year cleared Menem of charges he had interfered to protect a friend implicated in the case. But the initial judge in the case, two prosecutors and a former intelligence police chief were found guilty of embezzlement and cover-up in the case.

Another former president, Cristina Fernández, faces trial along with 11 other people on separate charges of cover-up based on a deal with Iran that would have let a special international truth commission question those accused in the case, but with no guarantee they would be arrested. She denies any wrongdoing.

Special prosecutor Alberto Nisman originally brought such charges in 2015, but was found dead of a gunshot wound in his apartment a few days later. No one has been convicted in that case.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday as well as an international counterterrorism conference.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina’s capital, killing 85 people.

The nation’s Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri’s government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires. Hundreds were injured in both bombings.

“At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic,” the unit said.

It’s not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the former officials and ex-diplomats who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

“How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?” asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

“We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice,” he added.

The investigation into the attack was plagued with irregularities from the start. A court in 2004 absolves about 20 people who initially had been accused of being the “local connection” for the attack and called for an investigation into a possible coverup by the government of President Carlos Menem, who had left office in 1999.

A court this year cleared Menem of charges he had interfered to protect a friend implicated in the case. But the initial judge in the case, two prosecutors and a former intelligence police chief were found guilty of embezzlement and cover-up in the case.

Another former president, Cristina Fernández, faces trial along with 11 other people on separate charges of cover-up based on a deal with Iran that would have let a special international truth commission question those accused in the case, but with no guarantee they would be arrested. She denies any wrongdoing.

Special prosecutor Alberto Nisman originally brought such charges in 2015, but was found dead of a gunshot wound in his apartment a few days later. No one has been convicted in that case.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday as well as an international counterterrorism conference.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report. </s> BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina’s government on Thursday branded Hezbollah a terrorist organization and froze its assets, 25 years to the day after a bombing blamed on the Lebanese-based group destroyed a Jewish community center in Argentina’s capital, killing 85 people.

The nation’s Financial Information Unit took the action a day after President Mauricio Macri’s government created a list of terrorist organizations to help coordinate actions with other nations and as the nation held memorial services for victims of the attack, for which no one has been convicted.

The unit noted that Hezbollah has been accused of responsibility for a 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina that killed 29 people, as well as the 1994 attack on the Argentine-Israelite Mutual Association in Buenos Aires.

“At the present time, Hezbollah continues to represent a current and active threat to national security and the integrity of the financial, economic order of the Argentine Republic,” the unit said.

It’s not clear how much impact the ruling will have or how many assets Hezbollah might have in Argentina. The group already has been put on terrorism lists by the U.S., the European Union and several other nations.

At midmorning Thursday, sirens resounded across the Argentine capital to honor the 85 people who died the nation’s worst terrorist attack.

Argentine prosecutors blame Iranian officials for plotting the attack and say Hezbollah operatives carried it out. But nobody has been convicted despite years of tangled investigations. Iran has refused to turn over the people who now face charges, and denies any involvement.

The memorial service began with a moment of silence, followed by a reading of the names of each of the 85 victims.

“How is it possible that 25 years later there has not been a single responsible person imprisoned for this crime against humanity?” asked Ariel Eichbaum, president of the association, which is known by its Spanish initials, AMIA.

“We continue to have questions to which there are still no answers. Twenty-five years have passed and the wound remains open, a wound that cannot be closed without justice,” he added.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was flying to Argentina to attend another memorial service on Friday and attend a meeting of international officials on fighting terrorism.

Associated Press journalist Natacha Pisarenko contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed. </s> Argentina designated the Iranian proxy organization Hezbollah an “Entity Tied to Acts of Terrorism” this week in anticipation of the anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) headquarters Thursday, at its time the deadliest terrorist attack in the modern history of the Western Hemisphere.

The 1994 AMIA bombing – the second against an Israeli target in Argentina in as many years, believed to have been orchestrated by the same actors tied to the Iranian regime – remains the second-deadliest attack in the hemisphere’s history after the al-Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001, killing 85 people between five and 73 years old.

Argentina’s Financial Information Unit (UIF) added Hezbollah to its Public Registry of Persons and Entities Tied to Acts of Terrorism on Wednesday, which freezes the organization’s assets and any assets that Hezbollah’s leaders may have stashed in the country. UIF chief Mariano Federici called Hezbollah “a current and active threat” to the Argentine homeland.

Argentina’s Public Registry of Persons and Entities Tied to Acts of Terrorism was only one day old when the UIF added Hezbollah to it. Macri created it on Tuesday to help the Ministry of Justice more easily keep funds out of terrorists’ hands. Buenos Aires’ announcement of the new registry also stated it would “allow access to and exchanges over information on people and entities tied to acts of terrorism and/or their financing and facilitate domestic and international cooperation to prevent, combat, and eradicate terrorism and its financing.”

Macri led an observance ceremony on Thursday for the victims of the AMIA attack, calling for those responsible to “be judged on Argentine soil,” for Interpol not to withdraw its red alerts, and “for no other country to give them diplomatic immunity,” which some of the suspects have received from Iran. In reporting on the new Hezbollah terrorist designation, Iranian’s state-run PressTV once again refuted any involvement in the attack, calling Argentina’s evidence “trumped-up charges.”

“Argentina accuses the Lebanese movement of carrying out the bombing, an allegation that Hezbollah describes as ‘categorically false,'” PressTV noted. “However, Buenos Aires has so far failed to provide substantial evidence and prove that Hezbollah was behind the attack.”

Through the work of Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman, authorities in Buenos Aires identified multiple Hezbollah and Iranian government officials as the culprits of the attack, successfully securing six Interpol red notices in 2007, which advise governments to arrest the men if they enter their respective territories. Nisman was found dead with a gunshot wound in his head in January 2015, the night before he was scheduled to present to the Argentine Congress a 300-page report accusing then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of protecting the AMIA culprits in exchange for favorable trade deals with Iran.

Police have not arrested, or even identified, anyone tied to Nisman’s death. In the immediate aftermath of his shooting, Fernández’s top prosecutor ruled the death a “suicide,” triggering widespread national protests against the socialists in power.

This week, the Argentine newspaper Clarín revealed that, according to intelligence documents, many of the same Hezbollah members and Iranian agents tied to the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina also participated in the AMIA bombing, taking advantage of lax border security measures in the South American country to smuggle explosives into the capital.

“All of the Hezbollah jihadist activists and logistics operatives left the country after that terrorist attack,” Clarín noted. “And they returned. The same ones. … the bombs were different but manufactured by the same person.”

The newspaper identifies Hezbollah bombmaker Malek Obeid as the “engineer” behind the attacks. According to Nisman’s investigations, Hezbollah targeted Argentina because Buenos Aires failed to deliver on an agreement to sell nuclear weapons materials to Tehran.

Current President Mauricio Macri, a conservative, won the 2015 election largely on his promise to bring both the AMIA terrorists and Nisman’s killers to justice. His first act as president was to cancel a “memorandum of understanding” with Iran that Fernández had signed limiting investigations on the AMIA bombing.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has offered Macri its full backing in bringing Iran to justice. In a statement honoring the victims of the AMIA bombing, the U.S. Department of State categorically described the attack as being “perpetrated by Hizballah at the direction of the Iranian regime” and said it “targeted the Jewish community and affected all those who support democratic values.”

“We remind the world that, while Argentine authorities continue their work to bring the perpetrators of these attacks to justice, the Iranian regime has yet to cooperate fully with them,” State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said in a statement, adding that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would attend an anti-terror event in Buenos Aires this weekend.

In Congress, Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General William Barr urging the Department of Justice to do more to enforce the Interpol red alerts against the suspected AMIA jihadists.

“While the red notices remain valid, however, INTERPOL member states have not acted on them with sufficient urgency for the previous 12 years,” the senators wrote. “Despite international recognition that these Iranian officials were the masterminds of the AMIA bombing, they continue to hold positions of responsibility in the Iranian government, engaging in or supporting troubling malign activity worldwide.”

“We therefore urge the Department of Justice to support Argentina each time one of the implicated Iranian individuals in question travels outside of Iran. This is an important action that the U.S. can take to ensure Iran is not able to engage in terrorism with impunity, even 25 years after an attack,” the senators wrote. </s> U.S. authorities have charged two operatives belonging to the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah with terrorism offenses, accused of plotting to target American and Israeli targets in New York and Panama.

Police arrested Samer El Debek, 37, of Dearborn, Michigan, and Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, New York, on June 1. They both appeared in a Manhattan federal court on Thursday.

U.S. authorities said the pair had been supporting "Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad organization" and had been in Lebanon for weapons and bomb-making training.

Kourani is accused of scouting targets in the U.S., specifically Israeli military personnel and U.S. military and law enforcement facilities. He looked for firearms suppliers, airport security information and returned information to the group via coded emails sent to a handler. He had receiving military training with the group on several occasions between 2008 and 2014.

Debek, a naturalized U.S. citizen, is accused of looking for targets in Panama, including the U.S. and Israeli embassies, as well as looking at the vulnerability of ships passing through the Panama Canal on a visit in 2012.

"Pre-operational surveillance is one of the hallmarks of Hezbollah in planning for future attacks," New York Police Commissioner James P. O'Neill told Associated Press.

Both, if convicted, face decades in prison.

Read more: U.S. omits Iran and Hezbollah from terror threat list

Panama's government said it was satisfied with the arrests as its cooperation "with international intelligence bodies" continues to "prevent this type of threat."

Hezbollah, a movement that Iran supports financially, considers Israel to be its arch-enemy. It opposes the U.S., a key supporter of Israel and enemy of Iran's hardline leadership and supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the six-year-long civil war. The U.S., EU, and Israel considers Hezbollah to be an extremist group.

The largest armed group in Lebanon remains popular in Lebanon because of its opposition to Israel, which it fought a one-month war against in 2006 on the southern border the country shares with Israel. </s> Argentina has asked Russia to arrest former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati for extradition in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

Velayati is in Russia as a special advisor to President Hassan Rouhani and will travel to China on Friday, so the same request has also been made to Chinese authorities, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Argentina is awaiting a response from Russia to the request, which was made "within the framework of the extradition treaty between the two countries," the statement said.

Velayati was foreign minister when a bomb destroyed the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) on July 18, 1994 leaving 85 dead and 300 people wounded.

He is charged with "committing the crime of homicide, classified as doubly aggravated for having been committed with racial or religious hatred and a suitable method to cause widespread danger," according to the judge responsible for the case.

Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah group is accused of the carrying out the bombing of the Jewish center and an attack on Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires two years earlier at Iran's demand. </s> BUENOS AIRES, July 13 — Argentina has asked Russia to arrest former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati for extradition in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires, the foreign ministry said yesterday.

Velayati is in Russia as a special advisor to President Hassan Rouhani and will travel to China today, so the same request has also been made to Chinese authorities, the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Argentina is awaiting a response from Russia to the request, which was made “within the framework of the extradition treaty between the two countries,” the statement said.

Velayati was foreign minister when a bomb destroyed the headquarters of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) on July 18, 1994 leaving 85 dead and 300 people wounded.

He is charged with “committing the crime of homicide, classified as doubly aggravated for having been committed with racial or religious hatred and a suitable method to cause widespread danger,” according to the judge responsible for the case.

Lebanon’s Shiah Hezbollah group is accused of the carrying out the bombing of the Jewish center and an attack on Israel’s embassy in Buenos Aires two years earlier at Iran’s demand. — AFP
Hezbollah condemns Argentina over its designation of their group as a "terrorist organization", saying Argentina did so under "United States pressure".