Hezbollah and Iran-Backed Groups

Ecuador’s interior minister says authorities in Quito have arrested a Syrian man identified only as M.K., whom the United States lists as a terrorist threat for alleged membership in Iran‑backed Hezbollah, and have begun deportation proceedings after determining he entered the country without proper documents. John Reimberg said on X that the suspect was detained in a joint operation involving immigration officials and national police intelligence, and that he had previously been arrested in Ecuador in 2005 on charges of running a drug‑trafficking network that allegedly moved millions of dollars for Hezbollah before being granted provisional release in 2012. The move comes as President Daniel Noboa, a close ally of President Donald Trump, has formally designated Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist organizations and claims they advise Ecuador’s powerful cocaine gangs, even as murder, disappearances and extortion have remained high despite a two‑year domestic crackdown. It also unfolds against a broader U.S.-backed regional campaign: Ecuador and Washington recently joined a 17‑country anti‑cartel alliance launched by Trump, carried out joint strikes on drug targets inside Ecuador, and sunk a "narco‑sub" near the country’s northern border, while the FBI prepares to open an office there to work on organized crime and money laundering. The case underscores how U.S. terror designations, Iran’s regional proxy networks, and Latin American drug trafficking are increasingly intertwined in Washington’s and Quito’s security calculus, even as concrete public evidence about the suspect’s current operational role remains thin beyond official statements.