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Security forces on Monday killed all four terrorists, who carried out a series of planned attacks in Punjab’s <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Gurdaspur+">Gurdaspur</a> district, according to Reuters. The gun battle between the security forces and terrorists continued for more than ten hours.   <br />
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According to police, they heard terrorists shouting 'Allah hu Akbar' (God is great) before the start of the intense gunfight, indicating the assault was a suicide attack.<br />
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 <br /> The <keyword id="6389314" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Militants">militants</keyword> wearing army uniform went on a rampage attacking a bus, a health centre and a police station in the morning. At least six people were killed in the attack, including <keyword id="95863" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Punjab-Police">Punjab Police</keyword> SP (detective) Baljeet Singh.<br />
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 <br /> The terrorists first struck a bus in Dinanagar at around 5 a.m., injuring four passengers. According to police, the militants also shot dead a roadside vendor near Dinanagar bypass before entering the <keyword id="2970347" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Dinanagar-police">Dinanagar police</keyword> station where they injured five policemen.<br />
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Attacks on security installations by militants dressed as army men or police are very common in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Jammu+and+Kashmir">Jammu and Kashmir</a>, but Monday's was the first such assault in Punjab in 13 years, according to data from the <keyword id="52011" type="CITY" weightage="80" keywordseo="South-Asia">South Asia</keyword> Terrorism Portal, which tracks militant violence.<br />
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Meanwhile, Home Minister <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Rajnath+Singh+">Rajnath Singh</a> has said that the country will give a befitting reply. "We will not be the first to strike, but if we are hit, we will give a befitting reply. We want peace with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Pakistan+Navy">Pakistan</a>, but not at the cost of national honour," he said.<br />
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The minister said that he would make a statement over the attack in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Parliament+">Parliament</a> tomorrow after the Opposition created a ruckus in Parliament.<br />
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In a related development, five live bombs were also found on Amritsar-Pathankot railway track.<br />
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(Image: Indiatimes/Reuters/IANS) <br />
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Gurdaspur terror attack: Operation over, all terrorists killed

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US is reportedly talking to <keyword id="11893449" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="pakistan" source="Orion">Pakistan</keyword> about supporting US airstrikes in <keyword id="11892774" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="afghanistan" source="Orion">Afghanistan</keyword> in exchange for helping Islamabad with its <keyword id="11947997" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="counterterrorism" source="Orion">counterterrorism</keyword> operations.</li><li>But if the US isn't careful, deepening its security relationship with Pakistan could drag the US into Islamabad's internal conflicts.</li></ul><p>While the longest war in US history is finally over, the United States still has business to attend to in Afghanistan.</p><p>US troops may no longer be huddling in large bases on the outskirts of Kabul or engaging in counterinsurgency operations, but the Biden administration has been clear that the US <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/31/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-end-of-the-war-in-afghanistan/">will conduct over-the-horizon</a> counterterrorism strikes if the situation calls for it.</p><p>US officials are currently seeking arrangements with Afghanistan's neighbors to make those over-the-horizon strikes easier to execute. Washington is reportedly <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/22/politics/us-pakistan-afghanistan-airspace/index.html">negotiating with Pakistan</a> for long-term access to its airspace in exchange for assisting Islamabad with its own counterterrorism operations.</p><p>An agreement like this appears to be a common-sense measure ensuring the US military possesses the operational flexibility to keep the US homeland safe. Yet if US officials aren't careful, deepening the security relationship with Pakistan could be a prelude to another 20 years of war-on-autopilot.</p><p>The US should never apologize for striking terrorist operatives who have the capability and intent of attacking the homeland.</p><div type="image" title="al-Baghdadi raid" height="1230" width="2000" msid="87515259" hostid="261"></div><p>Indeed, the CIA and US special-operations community have become highly proficient in doing precisely that.</p><p>Numerous terrorist leaders have been neutralized over the past two decades, including Al Qaeda leader <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/osama-bin-laden-killed/story?id=13505703">Osama Bin Laden</a> and ISIS leader <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/27/world/middleeast/al-baghdadi-dead.html">Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi</a>.</p><p>Utilizing human sources on the ground, highly sophisticated surveillance technology, and valuable intelligence from allies and partners, the US has made it extraordinarily difficult for terrorist groups to operate unfettered.</p><p>The US has such an extensive array of weapons at its disposal that it is <a href="https://www.defensepriorities.org/explainers/debunking-the-safe-haven-myth">virtually impossible</a> for organizations like Al Qaeda and ISIS to establish safe-havens. Just last month, a US missile fired by a drone <a href="https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/STATEMENTS/Statements-View/Article/2820408/us-strike-in-the-vicinity-of-suluk-syria-oct-22-2021/">killed</a> a senior Al Qaeda official in northwest Syria, hundreds of miles from where US troops are present.</p><p>But despite some successes, targeted killing by the US has transformed <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/afghanistan/2021-10-14/future-americas-drone-campaign">into a crutch</a> devoid of a larger strategy. What should be used in extreme cases against high-profile terrorists who are plotting attacks against the US is now a common tactic in an unending war on terrorism.</p><p>While President Joe Biden <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/20/us/politics/us-drone-strike-shabab-somalia.html">has slowed down</a> the pace of US drone strikes considerably, Washington has vastly expanded the range of groups and potential targets. Today, it is not so much terrorist leaders or key operatives who are the majority of targets but low-level foot soldiers who are as likely to join a terrorist group for monetary reasons as ideological ones.</p><div type="image" title="Afghanistan-Pakistan border crossing Taliban flag" height="1665" width="2500" msid="87515263" hostid="261"></div><p>Look no further than Somalia, where the US is acting not against a transnational terrorist organization, but against Al Shabaab, a ruthless but homegrown domestic insurgency with a local objective of overthrowing the Somali government.</p><p>If the US isn't careful, it could experience a similar trajectory in Pakistan.</p><p>While the South Asian country no longer makes the State Department's <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Annex-of-Statistical-Information.pdf">top 10 list</a> in terms of terrorist violence, Pakistan remains victim to an alphabet soup of militant outfits. Casualties among the Pakistani army occur on a weekly basis.</p><p>With the exception of Al-Qaeda holdouts in Pakistan's tribal regions - the UN <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/al-qaeda-chief-al-zawahiri-believed-to-be-near-afghan-pakistan-border-un-report-101622882904878.html">assessed</a> in June that Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri is likely located somewhere in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region - most of those outfits are far more interested in replacing the Pakistani government than attacking the US directly.</p><p>US security officials understand the dynamics in Pakistan's tribal regions well. During the Obama and Trump administrations, the US struck anti-Pakistan terrorist elements multiple times. US precision-missile strikes targeted the leadership structure of the Pakistani Taliban, killing the organization's chief in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/aug/07/baitullah-mehsud-dead-taliban-pakistan">2009</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistani-official-accuses-us-of-sabotage-as-drone-targets-taliban-leaders-in-northwest/2013/11/01/1463d0c2-431d-11e3-b028-de922d7a3f47_story.html">2013</a>, and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/leader-pakistani-taliban-killed-u-s-drone-strike-afghanistan-say-n883446">2018</a>.</p><p>At that time, US military pressure made some degree of sense; thousands of US troops were stationed in next-door Afghanistan, and some of these areas served as critical logistical and recruitment zones for the Afghan Taliban.</p><div type="image" title="Pakistan" height="2000" width="3000" msid="87515266" hostid="261"></div><p>Yet the situation has changed. US forces are no longer in Afghanistan, having fully withdrawn last August after 20 years of inconclusive war.</p><p>The importance of Pakistan as a logistics and transportation hub for supplies into Afghanistan is negligible since the US military is out of the country. Pakistan may still be a valuable counterterrorism partner, but thanks to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Islamabad's leverage over Washington has dwindled.</p><p>Access to Pakistani airspace would certainly be beneficial to the US from an operational point of view. But US officials need to be careful about the concessions they are willing to offer in return. Islamabad will likely request concrete US intelligence support and perhaps even covert action against anti-Pakistan armed groups.</p><p>Accepting Pakistan's request, however, would drag the US into Islamabad's internal conflicts at a time when the Biden administration should be getting more discriminatory in when, where, and against whom it targets. Putting Washington in the middle of a long, ugly intra-Pakistani dispute risks making Pakistan's enemies America's as well.</p><p>Biden claims the US is ending an era of "<a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/08/31/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-end-of-the-war-in-afghanistan/">relentless war</a>." If Biden intends to follow through with this promise, he needs to ensure any security and intelligence partnership with Pakistan is limited in scope and keeps the US military from becoming an active combatant in Islamabad's internal conflict.</p><p><em>Daniel R. DePetris is a fellow at <keyword id="11985140" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="defense-priorities" source="Orion">Defense Priorities</keyword> and a foreign affairs columnist for Newsweek</em>.</p>

The US just got out of Afghanistan and it's already at risk of getting sucked into another country's war

<ul class="summary-list"><li>On April 30, 1980, Iranian terrorists stormed Iran's Embassy in London and took two dozen hostages.</li><li>After six tense days, the British <keyword id="88599" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="SAS">SAS</keyword> freed hostages with a daring raid captured on live television.</li></ul><p>On April 30, 1980, a group of six Iranian terrorists stormed the <keyword id="218876" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Iranian-embassy">Iranian Embassy</keyword> in London and took the diplomatic staff and several bystanders hostages.</p><p>The hostage-takers were members of an obscure Arab terrorist organization who opposed Ayatollah Khomeini and wanted Iran to give autonomy to Arabistan, or Khuzestan Province, a small but oil-rich province in southwest Iran.</p><p>Their intrusion began an ordeal that would end with a spectacular raid by the UK's top special-operations unit, the Special Air Service (SAS), on May 5.</p><p>In a first, the rescue was captured <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p4DmuGyehc" target="_top">on live television</a>, giving the SAS, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-non-us-special-operations-forces-from-around-the-world-2020-8" target="_top">which was created during World War II</a>, newfound fame.</p><p>The advent of <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> terrorism as a form of political pressure in the 1970s pushed the SAS to shift from its focus on direct-action and reconnaissance to specializing in counterterrorism and <keyword id="898757" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Hostage-Rescue">hostage rescue</keyword>.</p><p>Hostage rescue is one of the toughest special-operations mission-sets, as it requires not just reconnoitering an area and neutralizing an enemy but also applying surgical force when and where necessary so hostages aren't harmed.</p><h2>A long six days</h2><div type="image" title="Iranian Embassy siege Operation Nimrod" height="1159" width="1545" msid="82632844" hostid="261"></div><p>Within minutes of the terrorists' intrusion, the SAS had been notified and spun up. With the motto "prior planning and preparation prevents piss-poor performance," or the Seven Ps, the SAS operators got to work.</p><p>The SAS always has a squadron on standby for counterterrorism contingencies, with the assignment rotating among the unit's squadrons. The task of responding to the embassy fell to B Squadron, which was the team on a 30-minute standby for such contingencies.</p><p>Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 - the US military's equivalent counterterrorism and hostage-rescue Tier 1 units - follow the same readiness schedule. The Delta Force squadron on no-notice standby is called "Aztec," while the SEAL Team 6 squadron is called "Trident." The assignments rotate between the units' squadrons.</p><p>B Squadron was composed of two teams, Red Team and Blue Team, and the assault force was made up of about 35 SAS operators. They had planned a counterterrorism exercise, so their gear and vehicles were already packed and ready to go.</p><div type="image" title="Iranian Embassy London Operation Nimrod" height="1319" width="2000" msid="82632846" hostid="261"></div><p>Red Team was deployed next to the embassy in case they had to go in immediately. Blue Team was stationed in the nearby Regent's Park barracks and could reinforce their teammates if needed.</p><p>The next day, however, Blue Team also moved next to the embassy because they were worried that London traffic might delay them in an emergency. The two teams had rotating shifts on standby.</p><p>On the third day of the ordeal, more SAS operators covertly arrived at the buildings adjoining the Iranian Embassy and were on a 24-hour standby to go in if the negotiations failed.</p><p>On the fourth day, the SAS managed to pinpoint the location of the hostages on the second floor of the embassy and also locate a definite entry point into the building. Negotiations at this point were still taking place through a talking window.</p><div type="image" title="British SAS Iranian Embassy siege Operation Nimrod" height="1327" width="2000" msid="82632847" hostid="261"></div><p>To buy more time, the British government had agreed to broadcast the terrorists' demands on the BBC.</p><p>Although that appeased the hostage-takers, negotiations were still tense. Meanwhile, the SAS was continuously preparing and rehearsing their plan.</p><p>"It was along day as we said hurry up and wait," <a href="https://twitter.com/RustyFirmin/status/1388455680378654721" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Rusty Firmin, a retired SAS operator who participated in the operation as a team leader.</p><p>"It was the start of a waiting game as negotiations were a key to buying time. That would give us time to plan and prepare. Max Vernon the lead negotiator did a great job," Firmin said.</p><p>Then, as negotiations went on, the terrorists killed two hostages and threw the body of one on the pavement outside the embassy, threatening to continue executing one hostage every 30 minutes until their demands were met.</p><p>Until that point, it was a law-enforcement operation. But the executions changed the rules of engagement. The SAS had their green light.</p><h2><keyword id="11257687" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="operation-nimrod">Operation Nimrod</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="British SAS Iranian Embassy siege Operation Nimrod" height="1495" width="1994" msid="82632850" hostid="261"></div><p>The SAS operators had selected four entry points.</p><p>First, the embassy's front windows on the first floor, which they would reach through the adjacent balconies; second, the embassy's back windows on the second floor, which they would reach by rappelling; third, the embassy's skylight, which they would reach from the roof; and fourth, the embassy's rear door on the ground floor, which they would reach from the street.</p><p>The plan was to breach the four points simultaneously and flood the building with operators who would assault the terrorists from multiple angles.</p><p>The SAS operators moved from their hiding places to the final assault positions. This maneuver took almost 16 minutes, as they had to be careful not to give themselves away and lose the crucial element of surprise.</p><p>On the back of the building, as the SAS operators were rappelling into position, the team leader's zip line became stuck, and another operator accidentally broke a window trying to help him. The noise alerted the terrorists, and the SAS operators were forced to adjust on the fly and storm the second floor without waiting for the other two teams.</p><div type="image" title="Operation Nimrod SAS" height="598" width="954" msid="82632852" hostid="261"></div><p>However, the curtains were lit on fire by the flash-bang grenades and the breaching charges, and the stuck team leader suffered some minor burns. Despite the inconvenience, he still led his team into the breach.</p><p>The terrorists had barricaded themselves, and once they heard the commotion from the SAS, they started shooting at the hostages, killing one and wounding two. The SAS operators stormed the room and neutralized most of the terrorists.</p><p>One terrorist disguised himself as a hostage and planned to detonate a grenade in the crowd. A real hostage alerted the SAS operators, however, and they spotted and killed the imposter.</p><p>At the front entry point, two breachers scaled the parapet that divided the buildings and dropped in the Iranian Embassy's balcony, placing a breaching charge and barely clearing the blast. The assault team then stormed in.</p><p>On the roof skylight, SAS operators rappelled in and cleared the third and fourth floors, which ended up being empty. The fourth SAS element breached the building and entered on the ground floor, which was also empty.</p><div type="image" title="Margaret Thatcher Operation Nimrod SAS" height="1155" width="2000" msid="82632855" hostid="261"></div><p>The hostage-rescue operation was over in just 17 minutes.</p><p>The terrorists killed one hostage before the SAS operations could intervene, while two others being held were wounded during the raid. Four terrorists were killed and a wounded one was captured. The SAS suffered only one wounded.</p><p>Operation Nimrod was a success, and because much of it was caught on live television, it propelled the SAS into the public spotlight.</p><p>The mission also had a lasting impact on the world of special-operations and counterterrorism, influencing the gear that the SAS and other units used and producing many lessons they would apply in future operations.</p><p><em>Stavros Atlamazoglou is a defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate.</em></p>

How a daring daylight raid broadcast on live TV made the elite British SAS back into a household name

In shocking revelations, two of the six terrorists killed at Pathankot airbase could be insiders.<br />
 <br /> Even though forensic reports are due, top officials of National Investigation Agency (<keyword id="6360058" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="NIA">NIA</keyword>), on the condition of anonymity, told ET that examination of phone call details recovered from the airbase will reveal the insiders.<br />
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Government statements mentioned six intruders and four of them were identified outsiders.<br />
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In order to get the identity of the two insiders, clearer answers will be available after the agency receives the forensic report next week.<br />
 <br /> The NIA has collected samples from the debris of the airbase building. Reportedly, <keyword id="517737" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="JeM-terrorists">JEM terrorists</keyword> had booby-trapped the part of the airbase they were hiding in.<br />
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NIA officials told ET four terrorists inside the airbase may have panicked after the Indian Air Force conducted an aerial survey following an alert from Punjab Superintendent of Police Salwinder Singh, who was kidnapped by the terrorists before the attack.<br />

Two of the Pathankot airbase attackers could be insiders

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The IDF released the first footage of its elite commando brigade in Gaza Thursday.</li><li>The soldiers are fighting in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza.</li></ul><p>The Israel Defense Forces released the <a href="https://www.idf.il/en/mini-sites/idf-press-releases-regarding-the-hamas-israel-war/first-footage-of-the-commando-brigade-in-gaza-soldiers-conduct-operational-activity-in-al-shati-in-northern-gaza/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first footage</a> of soldiers from its Commando Brigade on an operation in Gaza Thursday.</p><p>The IDF said the three videos and four photos it shared showed operatives fighting in the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, which it called "the densest area the IDF has operated in since the beginning of fighting."</p><p>The elite commandos killed Hamas militants and destroyed "terrorist infrastructure," per the IDF. Hamas is classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the US State Department.</p><div type="image" title="IDF al-Shati" height="1066" width="1422" msid="105319002" hostid="261" sizebytes="156342"></div><p>"During the operational activity, the Commando Brigade coordinated 54 precise strikes from the air, sea and land, during which Hamas terrorists were eliminated and terrorist infrastructure, booby-trapped buildings and tunnel shafts were destroyed," the IDF said in its press release.</p><p>"In parallel, the soldiers conducted operational activity at a booby-trapped hotel in the northern Gaza Strip, and found large stockpiles of weapons.</p><p>"The weapons were subsequently destroyed by the IDF."</p><div type="image" title="IDF al-Shati" height="1066" width="1422" msid="105319004" hostid="261" sizebytes="188062"></div><p>Two of the videos show soldiers engaged in urban warfare in the Gaza Strip, while the third is an interview with a first lieutenant from the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/israel-sends-special-forces-into-gaza-long-war-hamas-2023-10">elite Egoz Unit.</a></p><p>"We are inside Al-Shati. In recent days we have been waging a stubborn fight against Hamas here," the commando says in the footage. "In fact, in the last few days we have found terrorist infrastructure – weaponry, terror tunnel shafts which were close and adjacent to educational institutions."</p><p>"Our goal in the end is to reach every Hamas operative wherever they may be," he adds.</p><p>Most of the civilians have been forced out of northern Gaza, where the Israeli commandos are doing battle. </p><p>The majority of the besieged territory's 2.3 million residents are now crammed into the southern portion of the enclave, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-live-updates-11-16-2023-c3bb512fccd8892a8d2018eba821cef1" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">the Associated Press reported</a>. Israel has warned that attacks could also begin in the southern city of Khan Younis, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-middle-east-67446662" target="_blank" rel="noopener">per the BBC.</a></p><p>More than 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel when Hamas terrorists attacked the country on October 7, taking an additional 240 civilians hostage. Over 11,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's war against Hamas began, and an additional 2,700 are reported missing, according to Palestinian health authorities. </p>

First footage of Israel's elite commandos involved in house-to-house fighting in Gaza released by the IDF

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Miami-Dade Corrections</span></p><p class="caption">Mohammad Ahmad Ammar, who has been charged with money laundering in Florida and is accused of having links to Hezbollah.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Three men alleged to have links to Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah have been accused of using Miami banks to launder money for Colombian cartels, according to court documents <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">seen by the Miami Herald</a>.</p><p>Mohammad Ahmad Ammar, 31, a resident of Medellin, Colombia, who was arrested in Los Angeles in September, is believed to be the main figure in the scheme and is currently in a Miami-Dade jail <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">facing</a> state felony money-laundering charges.</p><p>Ammar's father is a well-connected Hezbollah associate, <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">according</a> to court documents.</p><p>Hassan Mohsen Mansour, a dual Lebanese and Canadian citizen, is also <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">believed</a> to be a Hezbollah associate and is currently in custody in Paris, facing a different money-laundering case in southern Florida.</p><p>The third man charged is Ghassan Diab, <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">purported</a> to be a "high-ranking member of Hezbollah who has access to numerous <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">international</keyword> bank accounts." Diab, who has not be apprehended, was based in Nigeria, and he is thought to currently be in that country or in Lebanon.</p><p>According to an arrest warrant <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">seen</a> by the Miami Herald, Ammar was contacted by a confidential informant working for the US Drug Enforcement Administration in early 2014. He was asked to help launder $250,000 in Australian dollars from cocaine sales and move it to Miami banks, where it would be available to Colombian traffickers.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Hezbollah members carry the coffin and a picture of top Hezbollah commander Mustafa Badreddine, who was killed in an attack in Syria, during his funeral in Beirut's southern suburbs.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Ammar, allegedly with the help of Mansour, moved the money to an account in Dubai's opaque banking system, after which the money disappeared. Later, bank accounts in Miami set up by the DEA as part of the sting operation began to see deposits <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">trickle in</a> from vague sources, usually accompanied by fake invoices.</p><p>After that laundering operation, another deal to launder $250,000 was made, with the same process of transferring and disguising the funds playing out.</p><p>According to the Herald, Ammar <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article107366182.html" target="_blank">boasted</a> of his criminal connects throughout the operation, telling investigators that he knew people who worked for an airline and could smuggle cocaine to Miami and that his family had strong ties to Hezbollah.</p><p>"These drug trafficking and money laundering schemes... provide a revenue and weapons stream for an international terrorist organization responsible for devastating terror attacks around the word," DEA Acting Deputy Administrator Jack Riley <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dea-targets-hezbollahs-money-laundering-ties-to-cartels/" target="_blank">said</a> in a statement earlier this year, when the DEA announced a "significant enforcement activity against Hezbollah's financing operations."</p><h2>Latin America's criminal nexus</h2><p>Ammar also admitted to a DEA informant that he worked with a high-powered <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/el-chapo-sinaloa-cartel-global-cocaine-trade" target="_blank">Medellin-based trafficking organization called La Oficina de Envigado</a>. The case against Ammar is not the first report of Hezbollah involvement in Latin American criminal networks, but it does fit with the general pattern of the terrorist group's purported activities in the region.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>UN World Drug Report 2016</span></p><p class="caption">South America is the global hub of cocaine production.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In 2011, a Lebanese man <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/us-alleges-zetas-hezbollah-funding-link" target="_blank">was charged</a> with selling cocaine to the Zetas cartel and laundering money for the group, and then using the profits of those laundering activities to finance Hezbollah. In 2014, Brazilian police <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/police-documents-hezbollah-ties-brazil-pcc" target="_blank">accused</a> a prison gang in the country of providing protection for Lebanese inmates in exchange for Hezbollah providing the gang access to international arms markets.</p><p>Lebanese traffickers with links to Hezbollah have long been <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/police-documents-hezbollah-ties-brazil-pcc" target="_blank">suspected</a> of operating in the relatively lawless region where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay's borders meet.</p><p>The people with links to Hezbollah who have been arrested are almost all thought to be "associates," not active members of the group, and most have been charged with crimes related to money laundering, Insight Crime <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/dea-operation-reveals-hezbollah-colombia-connection" target="_blank">notes</a>.</p><p>"There has been a longstanding presence of Hezbollah, one of the principal surrogates of Iran, in the region. Their activities have largely been involved in logistics support, providing funds back to Lebanon to Hezbollah itself," Adm. Kurt Tidd, head of US Southern Command, <a href="http://www.southcom.mil/newsroom/Pages/2016-Posture-Statement-to-Congress.aspx" target="_blank">testified</a> before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this year.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Alexandre Meneghini/AP</span></p><p class="caption">Soldiers escort five alleged members of the Zetas drug gang during their presentation to the press in Mexico City, June 9, 2011.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>While Hezbollah's presence in Latin America has typically been <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/us-fears-of-terrorist-criminal-nexus-in-latin-america-resurface" target="_blank">overstated</a>, and though the group's activities in the region have usually been limited to logistics, the evolving criminal landscape raises the potential for the terrorist group to pursue more nefarious undertakings.</p><p>The fragmentation of criminal groups in Colombia and Mexico in particular has opened space for more groups to operate, and the increasingly <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/us-fears-of-terrorist-criminal-nexus-in-latin-america-resurface" target="_blank">decentralized</a> nature of these criminal networks, along with the rise of <a href="http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/us-fears-of-terrorist-criminal-nexus-in-latin-america-resurface" target="_blank">subcontracting</a> among organized-crime groups, creates the possibility that traffickers may not always know who or what they are smuggling.</p><p>"There is not yet any indication that the criminal networks involved in human and drug trafficking are interested in supporting the efforts of terrorist groups," US Marine Corps Gen. John Kelly <a href="http://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Kelly_03-12-15.pdf" target="_blank">told</a> the Senate Armed Services Committee in a written statement in March 2015.</p><p>But, Kelly went on, "these networks could unwittingly, or even wittingly, facilitate the movement of terrorist operatives or weapons of mass destruction toward our borders, potentially undetected and almost completely unrestricted."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/green-beret-america-terrorism-strategy-isis-impact-2016-7">GREEN BERET: Why our strategy against terrorism is making things worse</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="txamV2NDE6NSkaxx39NG0PCeSmvHMH3q" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

You Searched For "terrorist operation" and got 6 results

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