Imad Fayez Mugniyah
Some information for future reference via Stratfor, Wikipedia and other sources:
According to his Lebanese passport application, Mughniyah was born in Tayr Dibba, a poor village in southern Lebanon. CIA South Group records state that he lived in Ayn Al-Dilbah; a ghetto in South Beirut. His father was a vegetable seller and during the civil war, his house was on the Green Line. Little is known about his adolescence as he did not attract the attention of analysts until 1976 when he joined Yasir Arafat’s Force 17. His role at that time was as a sniper, targeting Christians across the Green Line. At some point he spent a year at the American University of Beirut….
The Hezbollah leader who perhaps has had the closest links with the Iranian MOIS — and who has been involved in more successful high-profile attacks than any other Hezbollah member — is Imad Fayez Mugniyah. Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Mugniyah had been responsible for the deaths of more U.S. citizens than any other militant leader. Since Sept. 11, he has been eclipsed in the international spotlight by Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda — not that he necessarily would mind, as he prefers to ply his trade in the shadows….
On Oct. 23, 1983, Hezbollah conducted simultaneous suicide truck bombings against the two buildings housing U.S. Marines and French paratroopers in Beirut, killing 241 Marines and 58 French soldiers who were in Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping mission. On March 16, 1984, Hezbollah kidnapped CIA Station Chief William Buckley as he left his home for work. Buckley, who had been called to Beirut to pick up the pieces after the embassy bombing, was held in captivity for longer than a year and was severely tortured before his June 1985 death. Hezbollah would go on to kidnap and hold a number of Western hostages, including Terry Anderson, The Associated Press bureau chief in Beirut, who was held for seven years (1985-1991) and was the last of the Western hostages released. On Sept. 20, 1984, Hezbollah staged a suicide bombing against the U.S. Embassy’s annex building in Beirut, killing 11 people.
Hezbollah also carried out a number of hijackings. In fact, the United States has indicted Mugniyah in connection with the June 13, 1985, hijacking of TWA Flight 847, during which U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem was brutally beaten then executed, and his body was dumped on the tarmac at Beirut International Airport. Stethem’s killer, Hasan Izz-al-Din, was acting on Mugniyah’s orders.
In addition to his close relationship with the Iranian MOIS, Mugniyah also has interacted with al Qaeda. At the very least, Mugniyah served as an inspiration for bin Laden, who has sought to emulate Hezbollah’s success in driving U.S. troops out Lebanon by using violence to drive troops out of Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, convicted al Qaeda member Ali Muhammed testified in court that he helped arrange a 1993 meeting between Mugniyah and bin Laden in Khartoum, Sudan. Many investigators believe the meeting laid the groundwork for the June 25, 1996, bombing attack against U.S. Air Force personnel at Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, that killed 19 U.S. airmen and wounded 372 others.
Argentine authorities also have indicted Mugniyah for his alleged role in the March 17, 1992, bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, and the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Argentina Israel Mutual Association (AIMA) building in Buenos Aires. The Israeli Embassy bombing is thought to be retaliation for the Israeli assassination of Sheikh Abbas Masawi a month earlier.
We suspect we’ll be hearing from this fellow in coming years.