Brazilian Authorities Arrest Third Person Suspected of Having Links to Hezbollah

Brazilian authorities arrested on Monday another person suspected of having ties with Hezbollah, the militant group that mainly operates in Lebanon, according to a report from Reuters.

Three people have already been arrested for this reason since October 7, when the Israel-Hamas war began following an attack from the latter in which 1,200 people were killed and around 240 were taken hostage. Hezbollah, another declared enemy of Israel, began hostilities shorty after and has escalated its exchanges ever since.

The person was apprehended today in Brasilia, the capital of the country, wasn't named, but was already under investigation, the outlet reported.

The two other people suspected to be Hezbollah members were arrested last Wednesday and accused of being in the middle of preparations to perpetrate attacks against the Jewish community in Brazil.

Brazil's Israeli Confederation issued a press release following the arrests stating its "huge concern" for the potential attacks: "Terrorism in all of its aspects must be fought against and repudiated by all Brazilian society," the organization said. "The tragic events in the Middle East cannot be imported to our country, in which communities live peacefully and without fear of terrorism," it added.

Analysts have long documented activities related to Hezbollah in the area known as the Triple Border, which separates Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. According to the Buenos Aires Times, the place has "on multiple occasions been a hideout for terrorists who, for instance, once attacked Jewish targets in Buenos Aires."

The outlet added that controls and reports by the countries' main spying agencies with interests in the region have been heightened after the beginning of the war.

On June 15, 2023, Argentine news outlet Infobae reported that three of the four members of Hezbollah allegedly responsible for two terrorist attacks against the Jewish community in Argentina in the 1990s were living in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay and Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil. Lately, the outlet said, operatives from the group, as well as others from Hamas, "have joined drug dealing clans to fund their attack missions in Israel and targets in the rest of the world."

As exchanges of fire between Israel and Hezbollah escalate, U.S. Defense Minister Lloyd Austin warned his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, about the country's role in increasing tensions along the border, according to a report by Axios. The outlet indicated that there is growing anxiety about the possibility that the conflict leads to a wider, regional war.

Ten Israeli soldiers and civilians have been killed and more than 60 Hezbollah militants have been killed since the hostilities began, as well as several Lebanese civilians. Tens of thousands of Israelis have been evacuated from the country's northern regions as precaution while the skirmishes continue.