Talal Hamieh is a Lebanese militant leader. A senior military commander in Hezbollah since its founding in the early 1980s, he is associated with terrorist attacks such as the 1994 AMIA bombing and 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. In 2017, the U.S. added Hamieh to its Rewards for Justice Program, offering $7 million for information leading to his arrest.
Talal Hussein Hamieh was born in the 1970s in Brital in the Baalbek-Hermel Governorate near the Bekka Valley.[1] He joined Hezbollah in the early 1980s, shortly after the arrival of Iranian trainers to the region. After the assassination of Abbas al-Musawi, Hamieh became a close associate of Jihad Mughniyah. He became known to intelligence officials after he was caught on an intercepted communication celebrating the AMIA bombing, in which 85 people were killed, in Argentina. For many years he was Jihad's deputy, directing the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing, in which 19 U.S. soldiers were killed, and attacks against the IDF during the Second Lebanon War.[2] [3]
He is a veteran figure in Hezbollah's foreign military operations, working alongside Hezbollah military commanders Mustafa Badreddine and Imad Mughniyeh and IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi. Following Mughniyeh's death in 2008, Hamieh replaced him as Hezbollah's Chief of Staff, and he joined the Jihad Council alongside his responsibilities leading Hezbollah's foreign operations arm the External Security Organization (Unit 910).
After Badreddine was indicted by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon for charges related to the assassination of Rafic Hariri in 2011, Hamieh reportedly assumed command of Hezbollah's military operations. Following Badreddine's death in 2011, Hamieh was considered a "rising star" in Hezbollah and someone likely to promoted to a more senior role in the organization. His photo was publicly revealed for the first time in 2016.
Hamiyah was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Treasury Department on 13 September 2012 due to his alleged role as top military commander. He was designated alongside Badreddine.[4] The basis for their designation was E.O. 13224 for providing support to Hezbollah's terrorist activities in the Middle East and around the world.[5]
The U.S. State Department added him to its Rewards for Justice Program (RFJ) on October 10, 2017, offering $7 million for information leading to his arrest. Hamiyah was added to the RFJ program alongside Hezbollah senior military commander Fuad Shukr as part of the first rewards for Hezbollah figures in a decade.[6]