Venezuela extradited Ali Zaki Hage Jalil, a man long accused of being involved in Hezbollah’s 1994 bombing of Panama’s Alas Chiricanas Flight 901, the U.S. embassy in Panama announced on Monday.
For over 30 years Hage Jalil, a dual Venezuelan-Colombian national, has been suspected of being a member of Iran’s proxy terror group Hezbollah involved in the July 19, 1994, bombing of Flight 901 in Panama. On that day, Flight 901 departed from the city of Colón and exploded shortly after takeoff, killing 21 people on board, including three Americans. Most of the victims were part of the Jewish community in Panama. The FBI explained at the time that all killed passengers and crew were identified except for one body, Ali Hawa Jamal, the individual who is believed to have carried the bomb aboard the aircraft.
The Flight 901 bombing occurred a day after the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Argentine-Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, the deadliest terrorist attack in the Western Hemisphere prior to the September 11, 2001, attacks. In 2024, Argentine courts found Iran and Hezbollah responsible for both the AMIA bombing and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
The U.S. embassy in Panama announced on Monday that Hage Jalil was extradited to Panama, making the most significant development in the case in over 30 years. The embassy noted that the extradition was successfully carried out in cooperation with authorities from Venezuela’s interim regime, currently led by “acting president” Delcy Rodríguez, following an extradition request from Panama and thanks to U.S. government engagement.
“This extradition sends a definitive message: the Trump Administration has a long memory and an even longer reach,” U.S. Ambassador to Panama Kevin Marino Cabrera said in a statement. “When the Government of Panama asked for our assistance, we committed to put this suspect on Panamanian soil to stand before a judge. Under President Trump’s leadership, our nation is committed to holding Iran and its proxies like Hezbollah accountable. If you target Americans or our allies, we will find you.”
The U.S. embassy in Panama further detailed that the FBI provided critical intelligence and technical support that allowed Panamanian authorities to advance with the case, and noted, “thanks to President Trump, the United States once again stands for sovereignty and security.”
“No time or distance will prevent us from hunting down terrorists and holding them accountable for their crimes. The victims’ families should receive long overdue closure through the judicial process,” the U.S. embassy concluded.
The Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), in a new report published on Monday titled, “Three Decades Since the Panama Bombing: The Hezbollah Connection and Ali Zaki’s Extradition,” provided more details of Ali Zaki Hage Jalil’s suspected ties to Hezbollah and involvement in the 1994 bombing of Flight 901.
SFS explained that Panamanian prosecutors believed that Hage Jalil helped organize the terrorist plot, including the procurement under false identities of the explosive materials that were on the bomb carried aboard by Ali Hawa Jamal. According to Panamanian prosecutors, the bomb was concealed inside a radio that Hawa Jamal carried aboard and, after the crash, his body was the only one that went unclaimed — a detail that became central to the investigation.
The case remained “stalled” until it regained momentum in 2017 thanks to intelligence shared by Israeli officials with Panama — at the time, former Panamanian President Juan Carlos Valera confirmed that the information was personally transmitted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to SFS, Venezuelan authorities had long functioned, in practice, as a “shield” for the suspect and his extradition only became possible after a Venezuelan court accepted that Hage Jalil’s 2005 naturalization was fraudulently obtained to evade Panamanian justice. The suspect was initially arrested by Panamanian law enforcement officials in October 1994, who found ten Mini Mac 9mm submachine guns with obliterated serial numbers. Six additional automatic weapons, ammunition magazines, and a military detonation cord of the same kind used in the attack were found in a subsequent search of his apartment in Panama City.
“When asked about the detonation components, he stated he had purchased them from children at a gas station for 25 cents each. Investigators did not find that account credible,” SFS explained in the report.
Despite the findings, no terrorism prosecution against Hage Jalil followed. The man was released, returned to Venezuela, and rebuilt his commercial activity. He reportedly lived openly on Venezuela’s Margarita Island and operated a business for years. Migration records indicated that he continued traveling to Panama for recreational purposes until approximately 2019 or 2020. Panama did not issue a formal indictment against Hage Jalil until 2022.
SFS pointed out that a group calling itself Ansar Allah, (“Supporters of God,”) claimed responsibility for the Flight 901 bombing — noting that U.S. intelligence treat Ansar Allah as a cover name used by Hezbollah when it wants to distance itself from an attack. The same alias appeared after the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. “Ansar Allah” is also the official name of the Houthi terrorist gang currently controlling Yemen, which enjoys close ties to Hezbollah and their mutual financial patron, Iran.
“U.S. intelligence concluded that Hezbollah, under Iranian direction, was responsible for both the AMIA attack and the Alas Chiricanas bombing, viewing them as part of a single coordinated operation targeting Jewish communities and Western interests across both countries within 24 hours,” SFS’s report read.
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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