Mustafa Badr Al Din

Mustafa Badr Al Din, also known as Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Mustafa Youssef Badreddine, Sami Issa and Elias Fouad Saab, (born 6 April 1961) is military leader of Hezbollah and both the cousin and brother-in-law of late Imad Mugniyah.

Early life
Badr Al Din was born on 6 April 1961 in Al Ghobeiry, Beirut. His parents are Amine Badreddine and Fatima Jezeini.

Early activities and Hezbollah
Until 1982, Al Din, like Mugniyeh, was part of Fatah's Force 17 in Beirut. Later they both joined Hezbollah. Al Din was among Hezbollah's bomb makers.

Al Din is a member of the Shura council for Hezbollah and the head of the unit for overseas operations, Hezbollah's external operations branch. His aide in this post is Abdul Hadi Hammade, who previously commanded Hezbollah's secret Position 71. Prior to his appointment to this post in 2009, replacing Imad Mughniyah, Al Din served as the commander of Hezbollah's military arm and an advisor to Hezbollah's Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. Al Din's appointment as the head of overseas operation was not supported by deputy general secretary of Hezbollah, Naim Qassem. He is also Nasrallah's chief of intelligence.

1983 Kuwait bombings
Al Din entered Kuwait in 1983 on a Lebanese passport under the name of Elias Saab, or Elias Al Saab. He was a member of the militant group Dawa 17 or Al Dawa. He was arrested in Kuwait together with 17 suspects one month after seven blasts in the country in a single day on 13 December 1983, including the truck bombings of the US and French embassies in Kuwait City. The attacks left nearly five people dead and 86 injured. On the other hand, there is another report giving the death toll as 63. However, it is also argued that the use of the group's name in these events was a deception to hide the real groups that perpetrated these attacks. In 1985, Al Din also ordered the assassination of Kuwait emir, but the attempt failed.

As a result of the 16-week trials, he was sentenced to death for masterminding the attacks. Since his leg had been amputated, he was with a wooden leg in the jail. In the court, Al Din told the prosecutor that he did not recognize the sovereignty of Kuwait.

In order to force the authorities to release Al Din and others, Hezbollah members headed by Imad Mugniyed kidnapped at least four Western citizens in Lebanon. Mugniyeh also hijacked a Kuwait Airways Corporation (KAC) plane in Bangkok in 1988, demanding the release of him and other detainees.

Al Din escaped from the prison in 1990 during the invasion of Kuwait or the Iraqis released the imprisoned Al Din and the others.

Naharnet argues that after that event Al Din managed to flee to Iran. Later, the Iran's Revolutionary Guard returned him to Beirut. Ya Libnan reported that he had been behind the bombing of the US Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon in 1983, killing 241 marines.

Hariri assassination
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) declared in its report dated June 2011 that Al Din and other three people were behind the assassination of former Lebanon prime minister Rafiq Hariri. The names of four indicted suspects were officially announced on 29 July 2011.

Al Din was specifically accused of planning and supervising the assassination by the tribunal. In addition, he was described by the STL as the main organizator of the operation. Accusations about him and other three Hezbollah members were based on mobile phone evidence. Hasan Nasrallah threatened the tribunal upon its declaration. Since then, Al Din and the others have disappeared and allegedly fled to Iran. On 1 February 2012, the Special Tribune for Lebanon decided to try him in absentia. The trial would begin in March 2013, but it was postponed and no date was specified.

Designation
Al Din and Talal Hamiyah were put to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists by the US Treasury Department on 13 September 2012 due to his alleged role as top military commander, replacing Mugniyah who died in 2008. The basis for their designation was E.O. 13224 for providing support to Hezbollah’s terrorist activities in the Middle East and around the world.

Personal life
Al Din's sister Saada Badr Al Din married to her cousin Imad Mugniyah in 1983.