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On June 14, 1985, a group of armed hijackers belonging to Hezbollah intercepted the flight path of flight 847 of the US aircraft “TWA”, and forced it to land in Beirut, to start a blackmail and negotiation trip, which resulted in the death of one of the detained passengers and the release of the others and their numbers. 153.
On October 10, 2001, Imad Mughniyeh, Muhammad Ali Hamada, Hassan Izz al-Din and Ali Atwa were included in the list of the most wanted terrorists by the FBI, and the former president of the United States, George W. Bush, decided at the time to award a $ 5 million reward. For those who provide information about them, as part of a program called “Rewards for Justice”
Also, the US State Department made, as announced today, a reward of equal value to those who have information about three of them after Mughniyeh was assassinated, for his role in the hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in 1985 , where the kidnappers killed an American citizen.
Washington Offers Reward For Providing Information On Three Hezbollah Terrorists
The US State Department has offered a reward of up to $ 5 million to anyone who provides information leading to the arrest of three terrorists affiliated with the Lebanese Hezbollah for their role in the 1985 kidnapping in which a US citizen was killed.
Kidnapping incident
The terrorist operation took place when Flight 847 was on its usual route from Cairo to San Diego, USA, Via Athens, and then Rome, Boston and Los Angeles, and an armed group affiliated with the Lebanese Party intercepted its path. in Greece and forced him to land in the Lebanese capital.
The kidnappers demanded the release of 17 prisoners in Kuwait, who were involved in a terrorist operation in 1983, and the release of hundreds of Lebanese from Israeli jails. After a day of not responding to their demands, one of the hostages, a 23-year-old American named Robert Dean Stethem, a diver in the United States Navy, was killed and his body was dumped on the runway at the airport in Beirut, according to the US website Medium.
Israel then responded to their demands by releasing several of its prisoners, and the negotiations also contributed to the release of 40 passengers on June 17, 1985, and 39 passengers remained in detention until June 30, 1985, when they were released and transferred to Germany.
The kidnappers
Imad Mughniyeh is considered the most famous perpetrator of this crime, and he was born in southern Lebanon on December 7, 1962, and was killed on February 12, 2008 at the age of 45 in a mysterious explosion in the Syrian capital, Damascus, after being involved in several terrorist operations, as he was one of the most important military leaders of Hezbollah.
As for Muhammad Ali Hamadeh, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany, of which he served 18 years (1987-2005) for killing a United States Navy diver, he was released due to the absence of a treaty between Germany and the United States to allow the exchange of wanted persons and the extradition of persons punished in the same case, as well as in Lebanon, which refused Delivery of the participant in the seizure of the American plane.
“We assure everyone who wants to listen, including Mr. Hamadeh, that we will track him down and bring him to trial in the United States for what he did,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at the time.
The name Hassan Ezz El-Din had resubmitted the facts of the crime at the local level in Lebanon, after Hezbollah nominated one of its political leaders to the Lebanese Parliament with the same name, but for a different person, since the He was first born in 1963, and is one of the party’s military leaders.
Ali Atwa, born in 1960, is a member of Hezbollah, who did not board the plane, after Greek intelligence managed to arrest him, but was released in exchange for the release of 8 Greek passengers who were held on the plane.
Your roles at the crime scene
The website “Medium” revealed something of what happened that day, which gives a clear idea of the distribution of roles to carry out a terrorist operation, which the United States Department of State convenes to this day.
On June 13, 1985, the day before the plane was hijacked, a group of people, including Hassan Ezzedine, Ali Atwa and Muhammad Ali Hamadeh, entered the Athens airport transit lounge and bought tickets for the TWI flight. No. 847 bound for Rome.
Despite having weapons well wrapped in fiberglass and nylon bags, Hamada and Ezz El-Din managed to pass the Greek security control, following the plane that arrived at 10:10 a.m., without passing the security controls and the your passport controls.
Each of them entered with elegant clothes and bags full of weapons, to surprise the passengers, about 20 minutes after takeoff, standing in the aisle of the plane and announcing that they had seized the plane and that they were controlling it, according to the site. American website.
Ezz El-Din approached the host, Olly Derekson, and kicked her on the ground, to inform them that he would later comply with their requests, noting that Hamadeh is fluent in German, especially since he was living in Berlin and acquired German citizenship.
Hamada took a 9mm pistol, while Ezz El Din a grenade, and they entered the cockpit, where were the pilot, John L. Testrack, Christian Zimmermann, flight engineer and First Officer Phil Mareska. The flight engineer tried to act anyway, but Ezz El-Din hit him and the first officer with a pistol.
The pilot followed the orders of the hijackers, who first requested that they be transferred to Algeria and then diverted the plane to Beirut. The terrorists demanded their passports, money and jewelry from the passengers.
The hijackers also asked about Israeli or Jewish passengers, but the flight attendant informed them that no one is of Israeli nationality and that US passports do not specify religion.
