Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Rewards for Justice - Reward Offer for Information on Hamas and Hizballah Key Leaders

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
November 13, 2018

The U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice Program is offering rewards of up to $5 million each for information leading to the identification or location of Hamas leader Salih al-Aruri and Lebanese Hizballah leaders Khalil Yusif Mahmoud Harb and Haytham 'Ali Tabataba'i.

Salih al-Aruri is a deputy of the political bureau of the terrorist organization Hamas and one of the founders of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing. Aruri is currently living freely in Lebanon, where he reportedly is working with Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. Aruri funded and directed Hamas military operations in the West Bank and has been linked to several terrorist attacks, hijackings, and kidnappings. In 2014, al-Aruri announced Hamas's responsibility for the June 12, 2014 terrorist attack that kidnapped and killed three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, including dual U.S. –Israeli citizen Naftali Fraenkel. He publicly praised the murders as a "heroic operation." In September 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated al-Aruri as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) pursuant to Executive Order 13224.

Khalil Yusif Mahmoud Harb is a close adviser to Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Hizballah terrorist group, and has served as the group's chief military liaison to Iran and to Palestinian terrorist organizations. Harb has commanded and supervised Lebanese Hizballah's military operations in the Palestinian territories and in several countries throughout the Middle East. In August 2013, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Harb as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224. In May 2015, Saudi officials designated Harb as a terrorist and accused him of commanding Hizballah's "central military unit" and of being responsible for Hizballah's activities in Yemen.

Haytham 'Ali Tabataba'i is a key Hizballah military leader who has commanded Hizballah's special forces in both Syria and Yemen. Tabataba'i's actions in Syria and Yemen are part of a larger Hizballah effort to provide training, materiel, and personnel in support of its destabilizing regional activities. In October 2016, the Department of State designated Tabataba'i as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to Executive Order 13224.

Hamas and Hizballah receive weapons, training, and funding from Iran, which the Secretary of State has designated as a state sponsor of terrorism. The Department of State designated both Hamas and Hizballah as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) in October 1997, under the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entities in October 2001 under Executive Order 13224.

More information about these reward offers is located on the Rewards for Justice website at www.rewardsforjustice.net. We encourage anyone with information on these individuals to contact the Rewards for Justice office via the website, e-mail (info@rewardsforjustice.net), phone (1-800-877-3927 in North America), or mail (Rewards for Justice, Washington, D.C., 20520-0303, USA). Individuals may also contact the Regional Security Officer at the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. All information will be kept strictly confidential.

The Rewards for Justice program is administered by the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service. Since its inception in 1984, the program has paid in excess of $145 million to more than 90 people who provided actionable information that helped bring terrorists to justice or prevented acts of international terrorism worldwide. Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Rewards4Justice.