Hezbollah steps up recruitment of convicted criminals in Latin America for attacks on Jews

The Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon is stepping up efforts to recruit convicted felons in Latin America, according to a report from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. The report, authored by Lucas Gualtieri, a Brazilian federal prosecutor specializing in organized crime, details Hezbollah’s links to criminal networks in the region and warns that the group is recruiting individuals to undergo terrorist training in Lebanon.

Gualtieri said Hezbollah targets financially vulnerable convicted criminals who have been “locked up” and feel they “owe the courts.” The goal is to build local terrorist cells capable of carrying out potential attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets across Latin America, while allowing Hezbollah to maintain a low profile and deny official involvement.

The report highlights the case of Lucas Passos Lima, who was convicted by a Brazilian federal court last month after receiving $5,000 to participate in a terrorist network targeting Israelis and Jews. Lima had previously traveled to Lebanon for training.

According to the report, Lima was recruited through a network operated by Mohamad Khir Abdulmajid, a Syrian-born Brazilian citizen whose tobacco shops allegedly helped Hezbollah fund recruits’ travel to Lebanon. An FBI memo also linked Abdulmajid to Haissam Houssin Diab, a Lebanese-born Brazilian national whose passport was reportedly used to book travel.

After returning from Lebanon, Lima identified and filmed three synagogues, a rabbi and the Israeli Embassy in Brazil as potential terrorist targets, the report said.

Gualtieri welcomed Lima’s conviction and warned that failing to prosecute people involved in such networks could encourage Hezbollah and other terrorist groups to intensify their recruitment efforts.

Hezbollah’s activities in Latin America predate the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. In November 2023, Brazil’s Federal Police launched Operation Trapiche, a counterterrorism operation targeting Hezbollah’s activities in the region. In 2021, Bogotá, Colombia expelled two criminals allegedly hired by Hezbollah to target an Israeli national. Hezbollah is also widely believed to have been behind the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people and injured more than 300.

In 2024, police in Argentina arrested seven members of an Islamic terrorist group who reportedly planned attacks on local Jewish targets.

The report also says Hezbollah is increasingly relying on revenue from criminal networks in Latin America as its patron, Iran’s regime, faces financial pressure as a result of U.S. sanctions.