DEARBORN, Mich. – A Dearborn man was arrested June 1 for participating in missions and military training on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization, according to the Department of Justice.
Samer El Debek, 37 is accused of being recruited into Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social and terrorist components, in late 2007 or early 2008.
Allegations
El Debek was a naturalized United States citizen who began receiving a salary from Hezbollah and was paid through 2015, officials said. An email sent in June 2006 revealed El Debek expressing his support for Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah.
The Department of Justice said El Debek attended several military training sessions from Hezbollah in Lebanon from around 2008 through around 2014. El Debek received training in "basic military tactics, the handling of various weapons, surveillance and counter-surveillance techniques and the creation and handling of explosives and explosive devices," the DOJ said.
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Based on information El Debek provided to the FBI, FBI bomb technicians believe he received extensive training as a bomb-maker and has a high degree of technical sophistication in the area.
El Debek received, by email in 2010, a list of raw materials that could be sent from Syria or Dubai, including items often used in explosives and improvised explosive devices.
El Debek is also accused of conducting missions for Hezbollah in Thailand and Panama. In May 2009, he traveled from Lebanon, through Malaysia, to Thailand, where his mission was to clean up explosive precursors in a house in Bangkok that others had left, because they were under surveillance, the DOJ said. El Debek is accused of using his U.S. passport to enter and leave Thailand, on instruction from Hezbollah, so he could travel from Malaysia to Thailand without obtaining a visa.
El Debek is accused of traveling to Panama for Hezbollah in 2011, where his operational tasks included "locating the U.S. and Israeli Embassies, casing security procedures at the Panama Canal and the Israeli Embassy and locating hardware stores where explosive precursors could be purchased," the DOJ said.
Shortly before traveling to Panama, El Debek updated his status on Facebook with a post that read, in part, “Do not make peace or share food with those who killed your people.”
In early 2012, El Debek again traveled to Panama for Hezbollah, passing through New York and New Jersey, and was asked to identify areas of weakness and construction at the Panama Canal, as well as provide information about how close someone could get to a ship passing through the canal, the DOJ said. When he returned, El Debek's Islamic Jihad Organization handlers asked him for photographs of the U.S. Embassy there and details about its security procedures.
El Debek told the FBI that he was detained by Hezbollah from December 2015 to April 2016 and falsely accused of spying for the United States.
Between November 2014 and February 2017, El Debek, who received religious training from Hezbollah, conducted more than 250 Facebook searches using search terms such as “martyrs of the holy defense,” “martyrs of Islamic resistance,” “Hezbollah martyrs” and “martyrs of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon.”
El Debek was arrested in Livonia and presented on Monday before Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman in Manhattan federal court.
Charges against El Debek
Here are the charges against El Debek:
-Providing material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
-Conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
-Receiving military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a sentence of 10 years in prison or a fine.
-Conspiracy to receive military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
-Possessing, carrying, and using firearms and destructive devices during and in relation to crimes of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
-Making and receiving a contribution of funds, goods, and services to and from Hezbollah, in violation of IEEPA, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
-Conspiracy to make and receive a contribution of funds, goods, and services to and from Hezbollah, in violation of IEEPA, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Background on Hezbollah
Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social, and terrorist components, according to the Department of Justice.
Hezbollah was founded in the 1980s with support from Iran after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and its mission includes establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon.
Since Hezbollah's formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including United States citizens and military personnel, the DOJ said.
In 1997, the U.S. Department of State designated Hezbollah a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so designated today.
In 2001, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated Hezbollah a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. In 2010, State Department officials described Hezbollah as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States.
The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which is also known as the External Security Organization and 910, is a component of Hezbollah responsible for the planning and coordination of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of Hezbollah outside of Lebanon.
In July 2012, an IJO operative detonated explosives on a bus transporting Israeli tourists in the vicinity of an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed six people and injured 32 others. Law enforcement authorities have disrupted several other IJO attack-planning operations around the world, including the arrest of an IJO operative surveilling Israeli targets in Cyprus in 2012, the seizure of bomb-making precursor chemicals in Thailand in 2012, including chemicals manufactured by a medical devices company based in Guangzhou, China (“Guangzhou Company-1”), and a similar seizure of chemicals manufactured by Guangzhou Company-1 in Cyprus in May 2015 in connection with the arrest of another IJO operative.
Bronx man also arrested
Ali Kourani, 32, of the Bronx, was also arrested on charges related to involvement with Hezbollah.
Kourani was born in Lebanon and attended Hezbollah-sponsored weapons training in Lebanon in 2000 when he was approximately 16 years old. After lawfully entering the United States in 2003, Kourani obtained a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering in 2009 and a Masters of Business Administration in 2013.
Kourani and some of his relatives were present during the summer 2006 conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, when a home belonging to his family was destroyed. Kourani was then recruited to join the IJO by 2008.
In August 2008, Kourani submitted an application for naturalization in the United States, in which he falsely claimed, among other things, that he was not affiliated with a terrorist organization, the Department of Justice said.
In April 2009, Kourani became a naturalized citizen and was issued a United States passport, the DOJ said. Despite claiming in his passport application that he had no travel plans, Kourani traveled to Guangzhou, China -- the location of Guangzhou Company-1 -- on May 3, 2009. He later claimed to the FBI that the purpose of the trip was to meet with medical device manufacturers and other businessmen, the DOJ said.
Kourani was assigned an IJO handler, or mentor, "responsible for providing him with taskings, debriefings and arranging training," the DOJ said.
Kourani sometimes communicated with his handler using coded email communications, including messages sent by the handler that informed him of the need to return to Lebanon. In order to establish contact with his handler when Kourani returned to Lebanon, he called a telephone number associated with a pager (the “IJO Pager”) and provided a code that he understood was specific to him, the DOJ said.
After Kourani called the IJO Pager, officials said the handler would contact Kourani to set up an in-person meeting by calling a phone belonging to one of Kourani's relatives.
The IJO also provided Kourani with additional training in tradecraft, weapons and tactics, the DOJ said. In 2011, for example, Kourani attended an IJO military training camp located in the vicinity of Birkat Jabrur, Lebanon, where he was provided with military-tactics and weapons training, including training in the use of a rocket propelled grenade launcher, an AK-47 assault rifle, an MP5 submachine gun, a PKS machine gun (a Russian-made belt-fed weapon) and a Glock pistol, the DOJ said.
Based on requests from IJO personnel, which were conveyed during periodic in-person meetings when Kourani returned to Lebanon, he also conducted operations that included searching for weapons suppliers in the United States who could provide firearms to support IJO operations, identifying individuals affiliated with the Israeli Defense Force, gathering information regarding operations and security at airports in the United States and elsewhere and surveilling U.S. military and law enforcement facilities in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Kourani is accused of transmitting some of the products of his surveillance and intelligence-gathering efforts back to IJO personnel in Lebanon using digital storage media.
Charges against Kourani
Here are the charges against Kourani:
-Providing material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
-Conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
-Receiving military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a sentence of 10 years in prison or a fine.
-Conspiracy to receive military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
-Conspiracy to possess, carry, and use firearms and destructive devices during and in relation to crimes of violence, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
-Making and receiving a contribution of funds, goods, and services to and from Hezbollah, in violation of IEEPA, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
-Conspiracy to make and receive a contribution of funds, goods, and services to and from Hezbollah, in violation of IEEPA, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
-Naturalization fraud in connection with an act of international terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Officials respond to charges
David P. Gelios, special agent in charge of the Detroit division of the FBI, said, "As it relates to Detroit Metropolitan area and the state of Michigan, Counterterrorism threats are the No. 1 investigative priority of the FBI. FBI Detroit routinely conducts CT investigations. Arrests and/or search warrants in CT investigations are not unprecedented and reflect our commitment to protect and defend the United States against terrorist threats. Hizballah is a designated foreign terrorist organization and its Islamic Jihad Organization has been responsible for terrorist activities and incidents outside of Lebanon. FBI Detroit is always vigilant against terrorist threats and works routinely with our local, state, and federal partners in the Joint Terrorism Task Force to identify and investigate any threats that emerge. Last week’s arrest related to alleged illegal activity which did not occur in Michigan. FBI Detroit has no credible information to suggest any terrorism threat to the Metropolitan Detroit area. That said, we urge the public to remain vigilant and to report suspicious activity to your local law enforcement agency or to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Detroit Field Office at 313-965-2323."
Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said, "Today, we announce serious terrorism charges against two men who allegedly trained with and supported the Islamic Jihad Organization, a component of the foreign terrorist organization Hezbollah. Recruited as Hezbollah operatives, Samer El Debek and Ali Kourani allegedly received military-style training, including in the use of weapons like rocket-propelled grenade launchers and machine guns for use in support of the group’s terrorist mission. At the direction of his Hezbollah handlers, El Debek allegedly conducted missions in Panama to locate the U.S. and Israeli Embassies and to assess the vulnerabilities of the Panama Canal and ships in the Canal. Kourani allegedly conducted surveillance of potential targets in America, including military and law enforcement facilities in New York City. Thanks to the outstanding work of the FBI and NYPD, the allegedly destructive designs of these two Hezbollah operatives have been thwarted, and they will now face justice in a Manhattan federal court."
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. said, "The charges announced today reveal once again that the New York City region remains a focus of many adversaries, demonstrated as alleged in this instance by followers of a sophisticated and determined organization with a long history of coordinating violent activities on behalf of Hezbollah. Our announcement today also reveals, however, that the dozens of agencies working together with our FBI JTTFs nationwide are just as determined to disrupt the plans of those working to harm our communities. I’d like to thank the hundreds of investigators who comprise the FBI’s New York JTTF and display constant vigilance on our behalf, and I encourage the public to remain engaged and to immediately report suspicious activity to law enforcement."
NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill said, "As part of his work for Hezbollah, Kourani and others allegedly conducted covert surveillance of potential targets, including U.S. military bases and Israeli military personnel here in New York City. Pre-operational surveillance is one of the hallmarks of Hezbollah in planning for future attacks. As alleged, Kourani, on at least two occasions, received sophisticated military training overseas, including the use of a rocket propelled grenade. In addition, El Debek is charged in an unrelated complaint, for allegedly possessing extensive bomb making training received from Hezbollah. Today’s charges of two for their work on behalf of Hezbollah is a tribute to the collaborative work of the agents and detectives of the Joint Terrorism Task Force."