Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

HEZBOLLAH • 245other foreigners were taken in 1987. On 17 February 1988, U.S. MarineLieutenant Colonel William Higgins, assigned to temporary dutywith United Nations peacekeeping forces in Lebanon, was kidnappedand later killed on 31 July 1989. Many of the kidnappings were followedby written messages accompanied by recent photographs ofhostages to the Lebanese newspaper Ash Shira’ claiming credit inthe name of Islamic Jihad. Another American, Central IntelligenceAgency (CIA) station chief William Buckley, was also killed in captivityby Hezbollah. Revelations about the Reagan administration’sarms sales to Iran in November 1986 further highlighted Iraniancontrol over Hezbollah and prompted Hezbollah to take Church ofEngland envoy Terry Waite hostage on 20 January 1987 as well.Following the cessation of deals exchanging U.S. arms for hostages,Tehran found little utility in continuing to have Hezbollah seizeor hold hostages. The holding of the hostages remained the main reasonfor Iran’s diplomatic isolation following the 1988 cease-fire in theIran-Iraq war. The increase in U.S. influence in the Middle East as aresult of the 1990–1991 Gulf War and the weakening of the positionof Iran’s Lebanese protégés in the face of increased Syrian supportfor Hezbollah’s enemies in Lebanon may have forced both Iran andHezbollah to release the remaining hostages before the end of 1991.After the release of Western hostages in December 1991, Hezbollahagain resumed car-bombing attacks with the 17 March 1992bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, for which IslamicJihad once again claimed credit. On 18 July 1994 Hezbollah operativesused an explosives-packed van to bomb the Argentine-IsraelMutual Aid Association (AMIA, Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina)headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 85 people andinjuring about 200. On 8 August 1994 an Argentine judge, Juan JoséGaleano, announced he had evidence linking Iranian diplomats to thebombing. On 2 September 2004 all five of the Argentineans accusedin the AMIA bombing were acquitted after a trial lasting three yearsin which 1,284 witnesses had testified, due to a lack of evidenceagainst the accused.With the ending of the Lebanese civil war in October 1990, Hezbollahand Amal joined forces to harass Israeli and allied South LebaneseArmy forces in the south of Lebanon. On 28 August 1997 Israeliforces intending a preemptive strike at Hezbollah and Amal positionsinstead became trapped in the Wadi Hujuar canyon by cross-fire from