More than 30 years after one of Panama’s deadliest terrorist attacks, authorities have arrested Ali Zaki Hage Jalil, a Venezuelan citizen of Lebanese descent accused of participating in the 1994 bombing of Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, which killed 21 people, including 12 members of Panama’s Jewish community.

Hage Jalil was captured on Margarita Island in Venezuela’s Nueva Esparta State in a joint operation involving Venezuelan law enforcement, Interpol, and international intelligence agencies, officials confirmed Wednesday. The suspect had been under an Interpol Red Notice requested by Panama and backed by the FBI and Israeli authorities, following years of stalled investigations into the long-unsolved attack.

Authorities say Hage Jalil faces charges of premeditated homicide and crimes against collective security in connection with the July 19, 1994, explosion that brought down Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante aircraft traveling from Colón to Panama City.

All 21 people aboard — 18 passengers and 3 crew members — were killed instantly when the plane detonated midair. Investigators concluded that a suicide bomber on board had detonated explosives hidden inside a portable radio.

The attack took place one day after the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people at a Jewish community center. Intelligence officials have long suspected the two incidents were coordinated Hezbollah operations under the alias Ansar Allah La Estrella, targeting Jewish populations across Latin America.

The investigation into Flight 901 had languished for years amid political upheaval and lack of international cooperation. The case was reopened in 2017, as new intelligence and forensic data tied suspects in Venezuela and Lebanon to the bombing.

In 2024, the U.S. State Department offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of those responsible. Panama’s security services, working with Israeli and American intelligence agencies, gradually narrowed their focus to Hage Jalil, who is believed to have coordinated logistics and transport for the attackers.

According to officials, the suspect had lived quietly on Margarita Island, where he reportedly used multiple aliases and operated under the protection of local networks sympathetic to Hezbollah-linked organizations.

Venezuela’s Ministry of Interior confirmed the arrest, stating that Hage Jalil would remain in custody pending extradition proceedings to Panama.

The 1994 Panama bombing remains one of the deadliest anti-Jewish terrorist attacks in Central America, remembered as part of a coordinated wave of violence that struck Jewish and Israeli institutions across Latin America in the early 1990s.

Both the Panama and Argentina attacks were linked to Iran-backed Hezbollah networks, which Western intelligence agencies believe sought to strike Jewish and Israeli targets as retaliation for Israeli operations in Lebanon.

A classified 1995 Panamanian report cited “operational similarities” between the two incidents, including the use of suicide bombers, identical explosive signatures, and ties to Lebanese nationals operating in Venezuela and Paraguay.

Panamanian prosecutors said they will formally request extradition of Hage Jalil within the coming days. Venezuelan authorities, meanwhile, have not commented on whether they intend to cooperate, though the arrest was reportedly carried out with Interpol and FBI support.

If extradited and convicted, Hage Jalil would face life imprisonment under Panamanian law. Officials said additional arrests may follow as investigators pursue remaining members of the network believed to have orchestrated the attack from abroad.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)