From: "Chapter 8; Foreign Terrorist Organizations," Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, US Department of State, April 30, 2006.
HAMAS
a.k.a. Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya;
Islamic Resistance Movement;
Izz al-Din al Qassam Battalions;
Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades;
Izz al-Din al Qassam Forces;
Izz al-Din al-Qassim Battalions;
Izz al-Din al-Qassim Brigades;
Izz al-Din al-Qassim Forces;
Students of Ayyash;
Students of the Engineer;
Yahya Ayyash Units
Description
HAMAS was formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Various HAMAS elements have used both violent and political means, including terrorism, to pursue the goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel.
HAMAS maintains a political wing that manages the group's overall policy and a highly compartmentalized military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, that conducts terrorist activities.
Activities
HAMAS terrorists have conducted many attacks, including large-scale suicide bombings, against Israeli civilian and military targets. The group curtailed major terrorist activities in 2005 after agreeing to a temporary period of calm brokered by the Palestinian Authority in February. Despite HAMAS's general adherence to the calm, it maintained its military capabilities and launched Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip against Israeli targets on a number of occasions. HAMAS has not directly targeted U.S. interests, though the group makes little or no effort to avoid targets frequented by foreigners.
Strength
Unknown number of official members; tens of thousands of supporters and sympathizers.
Location/Area of Operation
HAMAS has limited its terrorist operations to Israeli military and civilian targets in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Israel. The group retains a cadre of senior leaders spread throughout the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and the Gulf States.
External Aid
Receives some funding from Iran but primarily relies on donations from Palestinian expatriates around the world and private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Some fundraising and propaganda activity takes place in Western Europe and North America.
From: "Chapter 8; Foreign Terrorist Organizations," Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, US Department of State, April 30, 2006.
(Common alternate spellings: Hezbollah, Hizbullah, Hizb`allah, Hizballah)
a.k.a. Party of God;
Islamic Jihad;
Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine
Description
Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanese-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The group follows the religious guidance of Khomeini's successor, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Hizballah is closely allied with Iran and often acts at its behest, but it also can and does act independently. Though Hizballah does not share the Syrian regime's secular orientation, the group has been a strong ally in helping Syria advance its political objectives in the region. The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, is the group's highest governing body and has been led by Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah since 1992.
Hizballah promotes Shia interests within the Lebanese political system and is an exemplar for Shia communities throughout the region. Hizballah supports a variety of violent anti-Western groups, including Palestinian terrorist organizations. This support includes the covert provision of weapons, explosives, training, funding, and guidance, as well as overt political support.
In 2005 Hizballah's status quo changed due both to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese territory and Hizballah's broadened role in Lebanese politics following the Lebanese legislative elections that spring. Hizballah has actively participated in Lebanon's political system since 1992. The party now claims 14 elected officials in the 128-seat Lebanese National Assembly and is represented in the Cabinet for the first time, by the Minister of Water and Electricity. Hizballah maintains a military presence in southern Lebanon, a presence it justifies by claiming to act in defense of Lebanon against acts of Israeli aggression, such as regular Israeli overflights of Lebanese airspace. Hizballah alleges that Israel has not withdrawn completely from Lebanese territory because, in Hizballah's view, the Sheba'a Farms area belongs to Lebanon. Hizballah and Israel clashed twice in this disputed part of the Golan Heights in 2005.
Activities
Hizballah is known to have been involved in numerous anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in 1984. Four members of Hizballah, ‘Imad Mughniyah, Hasan Izz-al-Din, Mohammed Hamadei, and Ali Atwa, are on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists for the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, during which a U.S. Navy diver was murdered. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping, detention, and murder of Americans and other Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s. Hizballah also has been implicated in the attacks on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994. The U.S. Government has indicted a member of Lebanese Hizballah for his participation in the June 1996 truck bomb attack of the U.S. Air Force dormitory at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. In 2000, Hizballah operatives captured three Israeli soldiers in the Sheba'a Farms area and kidnapped an Israeli non-combatant.
In 2004 Hizballah Secretary General Nasrallah said Hizballah would come up with new measures to counter Israeli Air Force violations of Lebanese airspace. Subsequently, Hizballah launched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that left Lebanese airspace and flew over the Israeli town of Nahariya before crashing into Lebanese territorial waters. Hizballah also continued launching small-scale attacks across the Israeli border, resulting in the deaths of several Israeli soldiers. In March 2004, Hizballah and HAMAS signed an agreement to increase joint efforts to conduct attacks against Israel. In late 2004, Hizballah's al-Manar television station, based in Beirut with an estimated 10 million viewers worldwide, was prohibited from broadcasting in France. Al-Manar was placed on the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) in the United States, which led to its removal from the program offerings of its main cable service provider and made it more difficult for al-Manar associates and affiliates to operate in the United States.
After the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, Hizballah organized public demonstrations in support of Damascus. To date, however, UNIIIC reports suggesting Syrian Government involvement have not implicated Hizballah in the killing.
Strength
Thousands of supporters, several thousand members, and a few hundred terrorist operatives.
Location/Area of Operation
Operates in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Beka'a Valley, and southern Lebanon. Has established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and Asia.
External Aid
Receives training, weapons, and explosives, as well as political, diplomatic, and organizational aid, from Iran, and diplomatic, political, and logistical support from Syria. Hizballah also receives funding from charitable donations and business interests.
From: "Chapter 8; Foreign Terrorist Organizations," Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, US Department of State, April 30, 2006.
a.k.a. PLF-Abu Abbas Faction
Description
The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) splintered from the PFLP-GC in the late 1970s and later split into pro-PLO, pro-Syrian, and pro-Libyan factions. The pro-PLO faction was led by Muhammad Zaydan (a.k.a. Abu Abbas) and was based in Baghdad prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Activities
Abbas's group was responsible for the 1985 attack on the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and the murder of U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer. Abu Abbas died of natural causes in April 2004 while in U.S. custody in Iraq. Current leadership and membership of the relatively small PLF appears to be based in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Strength
Unknown.
Location/Area of Operation
Based in Iraq from 1990 until 2003, the group currently is based in Lebanon.
External Aid
Current sources of funds uncertain, although may receive some financing from Iran.
From: "Chapter 8; Foreign Terrorist Organizations," Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, US Department of State, April 30, 2006.
a.k.a. Al-Faran;
Al-Hadid;
Al-Hadith;
Harakat ul-Ansar;
Harakat ul-Mujahideen;
HUA;
Jamiat ul-Ansar (JUA)
Description
HUM is an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that operates primarily in Kashmir. It is politically aligned with the radical political party Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam's Fazlur Rehman faction (JUI-F). Reportedly under pressure from the Government of Pakistan, HUM's long time leader Fazlur Rehman Khalil stepped down and, in January, was replaced by Dr. Badr Munir as the head of HUM. Khalil has been linked to Usama bin Ladin, and his signature was found on Bin Ladin's fatwa in February 1998 calling for attacks on U.S. and Western interests. HUM operated terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan until Coalition air strikes destroyed them in autumn 2001. Khalil was detained by Pakistani authorities in mid- 2004 and subsequently released in late December. In 2003, HUM began using the name Jamiat ul-Ansar (JUA). Pakistan banned JUA in November 2003.
Activities
HUM has conducted a number of operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Kashmir. It is linked to the Kashmiri militant group al-Faran that kidnapped five Western tourists in Kashmir in July 1995; one was killed in August, and the other four reportedly were killed in December of the same year. HUM was responsible for the hijacking of an Indian airliner in December 1999 that resulted in the release of Masood Azhar. Azhar, an important leader in the former Harakat ul-Ansar, was imprisoned by India in 1994 and founded Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) after his release. Also released in 1999 was Ahmed Omar Sheik, who was later convicted of the abduction and murder in 2002 of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl.
Strength
HUM has several hundred armed supporters located in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and India's southern Kashmir and Doda regions and in the Kashmir valley. Supporters are mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris, but also include Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war. Ituses light and heavy machine guns, assault rifles, mortars, explosives, and rockets. HUM lost a significant share of its membership in defections to the JEM in 2000.
Location/Area of Operation
Based in Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi, and several other towns in Pakistan. HUM conducts insurgent and terrorist operations primarily in Kashmir, but members have also been found operating in Afghanistan. HUM trains its militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
External Aid
Collects donations from wealthy and grassroots donors in Pakistan, Kashmir, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf and Islamic states. HUM's financial collection methods also include soliciting donations in magazine ads and pamphlets. The sources and amount of HUM's military funding are unknown. Its overt fundraising in Pakistan has been constrained since the government clampdown there on extremist groups and the freezing of terrorist assets.
HAMAS
a.k.a. Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya;
Islamic Resistance Movement;
Izz al-Din al Qassam Battalions;
Izz al-Din al Qassam Brigades;
Izz al-Din al Qassam Forces;
Izz al-Din al-Qassim Battalions;
Izz al-Din al-Qassim Brigades;
Izz al-Din al-Qassim Forces;
Students of Ayyash;
Students of the Engineer;
Yahya Ayyash Units
Description
HAMAS was formed in late 1987 as an outgrowth of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. Various HAMAS elements have used both violent and political means, including terrorism, to pursue the goal of establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in Israel.
HAMAS maintains a political wing that manages the group's overall policy and a highly compartmentalized military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, that conducts terrorist activities.
Activities
HAMAS terrorists have conducted many attacks, including large-scale suicide bombings, against Israeli civilian and military targets. The group curtailed major terrorist activities in 2005 after agreeing to a temporary period of calm brokered by the Palestinian Authority in February. Despite HAMAS's general adherence to the calm, it maintained its military capabilities and launched Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip against Israeli targets on a number of occasions. HAMAS has not directly targeted U.S. interests, though the group makes little or no effort to avoid targets frequented by foreigners.
Strength
Unknown number of official members; tens of thousands of supporters and sympathizers.
Location/Area of Operation
HAMAS has limited its terrorist operations to Israeli military and civilian targets in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Israel. The group retains a cadre of senior leaders spread throughout the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, and the Gulf States.
External Aid
Receives some funding from Iran but primarily relies on donations from Palestinian expatriates around the world and private benefactors in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states. Some fundraising and propaganda activity takes place in Western Europe and North America.
Hizballah
Updated August 24, 2007From: "Chapter 8; Foreign Terrorist Organizations," Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, US Department of State, April 30, 2006.
(Common alternate spellings: Hezbollah, Hizbullah, Hizb`allah, Hizballah)
a.k.a. Party of God;
Islamic Jihad;
Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine
Description
Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanese-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The group follows the religious guidance of Khomeini's successor, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Hizballah is closely allied with Iran and often acts at its behest, but it also can and does act independently. Though Hizballah does not share the Syrian regime's secular orientation, the group has been a strong ally in helping Syria advance its political objectives in the region. The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, is the group's highest governing body and has been led by Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah since 1992.
Hizballah promotes Shia interests within the Lebanese political system and is an exemplar for Shia communities throughout the region. Hizballah supports a variety of violent anti-Western groups, including Palestinian terrorist organizations. This support includes the covert provision of weapons, explosives, training, funding, and guidance, as well as overt political support.
In 2005 Hizballah's status quo changed due both to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanese territory and Hizballah's broadened role in Lebanese politics following the Lebanese legislative elections that spring. Hizballah has actively participated in Lebanon's political system since 1992. The party now claims 14 elected officials in the 128-seat Lebanese National Assembly and is represented in the Cabinet for the first time, by the Minister of Water and Electricity. Hizballah maintains a military presence in southern Lebanon, a presence it justifies by claiming to act in defense of Lebanon against acts of Israeli aggression, such as regular Israeli overflights of Lebanese airspace. Hizballah alleges that Israel has not withdrawn completely from Lebanese territory because, in Hizballah's view, the Sheba'a Farms area belongs to Lebanon. Hizballah and Israel clashed twice in this disputed part of the Golan Heights in 2005.
Activities
Hizballah is known to have been involved in numerous anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in 1984. Four members of Hizballah, ‘Imad Mughniyah, Hasan Izz-al-Din, Mohammed Hamadei, and Ali Atwa, are on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists for the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847, during which a U.S. Navy diver was murdered. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping, detention, and murder of Americans and other Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s. Hizballah also has been implicated in the attacks on the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992 and a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994. The U.S. Government has indicted a member of Lebanese Hizballah for his participation in the June 1996 truck bomb attack of the U.S. Air Force dormitory at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. In 2000, Hizballah operatives captured three Israeli soldiers in the Sheba'a Farms area and kidnapped an Israeli non-combatant.
In 2004 Hizballah Secretary General Nasrallah said Hizballah would come up with new measures to counter Israeli Air Force violations of Lebanese airspace. Subsequently, Hizballah launched an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that left Lebanese airspace and flew over the Israeli town of Nahariya before crashing into Lebanese territorial waters. Hizballah also continued launching small-scale attacks across the Israeli border, resulting in the deaths of several Israeli soldiers. In March 2004, Hizballah and HAMAS signed an agreement to increase joint efforts to conduct attacks against Israel. In late 2004, Hizballah's al-Manar television station, based in Beirut with an estimated 10 million viewers worldwide, was prohibited from broadcasting in France. Al-Manar was placed on the Terrorist Exclusion List (TEL) in the United States, which led to its removal from the program offerings of its main cable service provider and made it more difficult for al-Manar associates and affiliates to operate in the United States.
After the February assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, Hizballah organized public demonstrations in support of Damascus. To date, however, UNIIIC reports suggesting Syrian Government involvement have not implicated Hizballah in the killing.
Strength
Thousands of supporters, several thousand members, and a few hundred terrorist operatives.
Location/Area of Operation
Operates in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Beka'a Valley, and southern Lebanon. Has established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and Asia.
External Aid
Receives training, weapons, and explosives, as well as political, diplomatic, and organizational aid, from Iran, and diplomatic, political, and logistical support from Syria. Hizballah also receives funding from charitable donations and business interests.
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
Updated August 24, 2007From: "Chapter 8; Foreign Terrorist Organizations," Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, US Department of State, April 30, 2006.
a.k.a. PLF-Abu Abbas Faction
Description
The Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) splintered from the PFLP-GC in the late 1970s and later split into pro-PLO, pro-Syrian, and pro-Libyan factions. The pro-PLO faction was led by Muhammad Zaydan (a.k.a. Abu Abbas) and was based in Baghdad prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Activities
Abbas's group was responsible for the 1985 attack on the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and the murder of U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer. Abu Abbas died of natural causes in April 2004 while in U.S. custody in Iraq. Current leadership and membership of the relatively small PLF appears to be based in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Strength
Unknown.
Location/Area of Operation
Based in Iraq from 1990 until 2003, the group currently is based in Lebanon.
External Aid
Current sources of funds uncertain, although may receive some financing from Iran.
Harakat ul-Mujahedin (HUM)
Updated August 24, 2007From: "Chapter 8; Foreign Terrorist Organizations," Country Reports on Terrorism 2005, US Department of State, April 30, 2006.
a.k.a. Al-Faran;
Al-Hadid;
Al-Hadith;
Harakat ul-Ansar;
Harakat ul-Mujahideen;
HUA;
Jamiat ul-Ansar (JUA)
Description
HUM is an Islamic militant group based in Pakistan that operates primarily in Kashmir. It is politically aligned with the radical political party Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam's Fazlur Rehman faction (JUI-F). Reportedly under pressure from the Government of Pakistan, HUM's long time leader Fazlur Rehman Khalil stepped down and, in January, was replaced by Dr. Badr Munir as the head of HUM. Khalil has been linked to Usama bin Ladin, and his signature was found on Bin Ladin's fatwa in February 1998 calling for attacks on U.S. and Western interests. HUM operated terrorist training camps in eastern Afghanistan until Coalition air strikes destroyed them in autumn 2001. Khalil was detained by Pakistani authorities in mid- 2004 and subsequently released in late December. In 2003, HUM began using the name Jamiat ul-Ansar (JUA). Pakistan banned JUA in November 2003.
Activities
HUM has conducted a number of operations against Indian troops and civilian targets in Kashmir. It is linked to the Kashmiri militant group al-Faran that kidnapped five Western tourists in Kashmir in July 1995; one was killed in August, and the other four reportedly were killed in December of the same year. HUM was responsible for the hijacking of an Indian airliner in December 1999 that resulted in the release of Masood Azhar. Azhar, an important leader in the former Harakat ul-Ansar, was imprisoned by India in 1994 and founded Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) after his release. Also released in 1999 was Ahmed Omar Sheik, who was later convicted of the abduction and murder in 2002 of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl.
Strength
HUM has several hundred armed supporters located in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, and India's southern Kashmir and Doda regions and in the Kashmir valley. Supporters are mostly Pakistanis and Kashmiris, but also include Afghans and Arab veterans of the Afghan war. Ituses light and heavy machine guns, assault rifles, mortars, explosives, and rockets. HUM lost a significant share of its membership in defections to the JEM in 2000.
Location/Area of Operation
Based in Muzaffarabad, Rawalpindi, and several other towns in Pakistan. HUM conducts insurgent and terrorist operations primarily in Kashmir, but members have also been found operating in Afghanistan. HUM trains its militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
External Aid
Collects donations from wealthy and grassroots donors in Pakistan, Kashmir, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf and Islamic states. HUM's financial collection methods also include soliciting donations in magazine ads and pamphlets. The sources and amount of HUM's military funding are unknown. Its overt fundraising in Pakistan has been constrained since the government clampdown there on extremist groups and the freezing of terrorist assets.
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