US offers up to $10M reward for information on Hezbollah operative

The United States is seeking information on the whereabouts of Salim Jamil Ayyash, who is wanted for the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister.

AL-MONITOR Staff
AL-MONITOR Staff
Judges David Re (up, R) and Janet Nosworthy (up, L) are seen before the start of the session of the Lebanon Tribunal in Leidschendam, on Dec. 11, 2020, where the sentence was set for Salim Jamil Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah militant group who was convicted of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others 15 years ago. Ayyash, 57, was found guilty in absentia of murder and terrorism on Aug. 18 by the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the
Judges David Re (up, R) and Janet Nosworthy (up, L) are seen before the start of the session of the Lebanon Tribunal in Leidschendam, on Dec. 11, 2020, where the sentence was set for Salim Jamil Ayyash, a member of the Hezbollah militant group who was convicted of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others 15 years ago. Ayyash, 57, was found guilty in absentia of murder and terrorism on Aug. 18 by the Netherlands-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon over the huge suicide bombing that killed the Sunni billionaire politician and injured 226 others.

The United States is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information on the whereabouts of Salim Jamil Ayyash, a top Hezbollah operative who played a key role in the 2005 assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

According to a State Department release on Monday, Ayyash is a senior figure in Unit 121, the group’s assassination squad that receives orders directly from Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah. The US announcement said Ayyash has also been involved in “efforts to harm US military personnel.”

Hezbollah, which operates as both a militant group and political party in Lebanon, has been listed by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997.

Last year, an international tribunal convicted Ayyash of terrorism and homicide for his role in the February 2005 truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others and injured 226 people outside of a waterfront hotel in Beirut.

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