[JTA] Larry Luxner - A powerful Arab presence on a tiny, palm-fringed island off Nicaragua's Atlantic coast - Isla de San Andres, Colombia - has led to claims that the place is becoming a hotbed of Hizbullah terrorist activity. Ely Karmon, director of Israel's Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, says that since the 1980s Hizbullah has been recruiting and raising money from Lebanese and Syrian immigrants living in three specific areas of Latin America and the Caribbean: the tri-border area where Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay meet, Venezuela's Margarita Island, and the Caribbean coastline of Colombia, including Maicao and San Andres. "In all three areas you have Lebanese Shi'ite communities," Karmon said.
2007-11-30 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive