Mustafa Badr Al-Din

Mustafa Badr Al-Din is a U.S.-designated senior military commander for Hezbollah.“Treasury Designates Hizballah Leadership,” U.S. Department of the treasury, September 13, 2012, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1709.aspx. He reportedly controls Hezbollah’s external operations, including launching attacks on Israel from the West Bank and Gaza and attacking Sunni forces in Iraq. According to Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, Al-Din was the target of a January 2015 Israeli airstrike on Hezbollah members in Syria in which an Iranian general and six Hezbollah members were killed.Ronen Bergman, “The Hezbollah Connection,” New York Times, February 10, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/magazine/the-hezbollah-connection.html?_r=0. He is believed to operate out of Syria.

Al-Din is wanted by the U.N. and Lebanese authorities for his reported role in the February 14, 2005 murder of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.Special Tribunal for Lebanon, “Hussein Hassan Oneissi,” April 25, 2012, http://www.stl-tsl.org/en/the-cases/stl-11-01/accused/618-hussein-hassan-oneissi. The bomb attack on Hariri’s motorcade claimed the lives of an additional 21 and injured more than 220.Owen Bowcott, “Trial of Lebanese broadcaster charged with contempt of court opens in Hague,” Guardian, April 16, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/13/hezbollah-suspect-at-large-journalists-in-dock-at-hague-un-tribunal. Al-Din is being tried in absentia at the U.N.’s special tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague alongside fellow Hezbollah agents Salim Ayyah, Hussein Onesisi, and Assad Sabra. Lebanese authorities have reportedly been unable to locate Al-Din since 2009.Owen Bowcott, “Trial of Lebanese broadcaster charged with contempt of court opens in Hague,” Guardian, April 16, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/13/hezbollah-suspect-at-large-journalists-in-dock-at-hague-un-tribunal.

Also Known As

• Mustafa Youssef Badreddine
• Mustafa Amine Badreddine
• Mustafa Badredine
• Elias Fouad Saab
• Ilyas Sa’b
• Sami Issa
• Dhu Al-Fiqar“Treasury Designates Hizballah Leadership,” U.S. Department of the treasury, September 13, 2012, http://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/tg1709.aspx; Martin Chulov, “Rafik Hariri assassination: trial of Hezbollah suspects begins,” Guardian, January 16, 2014, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/16/rafik-hariri-assassination-trial-hezbollah-suspects.