Identification and Trial of Several Hezbollah Members for Attacking Israelis in Bulgaria

The President of Bulgaria informed his Israeli counterpart that a Bulgarian court is prosecuting several members of Hezbollah for planning a deadly attack on Israeli tourists in 2012 that left six dead. The Israeli newspaper Jerusalem Post reported on Friday, July 9, that Rosen Plevneliev, the President of Bulgaria, announced this news during a meeting with Reuven Rivlin, the President of Israel. According to this report, the Bulgarian President emphasized during the meeting on Thursday that his country has 'definitely' identified Hezbollah members as the planners of the bombing on the bus carrying Israeli tourists. Mr. Plevneliev stated that the names of the 'terrorists will be announced very soon,' but did not mention whether the defendants have been extradited to Bulgaria or if their trial will be in absentia. Meanwhile, some Arab media have previously reported that the discussion is about two Hezbollah members named Milad Farah and Hassan al-Haj. In the July 2012 attack in the tourist city of Burgas, Bulgaria, five Israeli tourists and the Bulgarian bus driver were killed, and thirty others were injured. The Israeli tourists had just disembarked from a flight from Tel Aviv to Burgas and had boarded a bus that had just arrived at the airport to take them to their hotel when the bomb exploded in the bus just before exiting the airport. The Bulgarian Ministry of Interior, after nearly a year of investigation, published a detailed report that it also submitted to the European Union, identifying Hezbollah as responsible for this terrorist attack. The Bulgarian Ministry of Interior and its security and intelligence agencies stated that the bomber on the bus was a Hezbollah operative, Mohammad Hassan al-Husseini, who held dual French and Lebanese citizenship and was killed, but the planners of the attack are still in Lebanon. The European Union, following an investigation into the official report of the Bulgarian government, listed Hezbollah's military wing as a terrorist organization in the summer of 2013. The attack on Israeli tourists occurred at a time when a series of other attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets were planned and some executed in countries like Thailand, India, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus. Cyprus announced that Hossam Taleb Yacoub, a Lebanese Hezbollah member, was arrested for a similar attack against Israeli tourists on the island just days after the Burgas attack; Yacoub was tried and convicted in Limassol. According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli security agencies have assisted Bulgaria in the investigation of the Burgas attack over the past four years. Reuven Rivlin, the President of Israel, traveled to Sofia to attend the 25th anniversary ceremony of the establishment of full political relations between Israel and Bulgaria. Despite the negative impact the Burgas attack had on Israeli tourists, in 2015, over 155,000 Israeli tourists visited Bulgaria, including the city of Burgas. The President of Bulgaria stated on Thursday at a ceremony where the President of Israel unveiled a plaque of appreciation for the Bulgarian people for defending Jews that 48,000 Jews in this country were saved during World War II. The President of Bulgaria added that his country will not allow anti-Semitism to rise again and places great importance on relations with Israel.