Hicham Nmer Khanafer

Hicham Nmer Khanafer is an “active and influential” Hezbollah fundraiser and recruiter responsible for the group’s activities in The Gambia, according to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Khanafer, who holds a Lebanese passport, has allegedly hosted weekly meetings for Hezbollah supporters at his home in The Gambia, as well as weekly fundraising and recruiting drives for the group at a local mosque. Khanafer was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in June 2013.“Treasury Sanctions Hizbollah Operatives in West Africa,” U.S. Department of the Treasury, June 11, 2013, https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/jl1980.aspx. Khanafer was one of four Hezbollah fundraisers in West Africa who raised “millions of dollars” for the group, according to David S. Cohen, the then-U.S. Treasury undersecretary in charge of sanctions.Rick Gladstone, “U.S. Blacklists Fund-Raisers for Hezbollah,” New York Times, June 11, 2013, https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/12/world/middleeast/us-hits-hezbollah-with-new-sanctions.html.

Also Known As

Extremist entity
Hezbollah
Type(s) of Organization:
Militia, political party, social-service provider, terrorist, transnational, violent
Ideologies and Affiliations:
Iranian-sponsored, Islamist, jihadist, Khomeinist, Shiite
Position(s):
Recruiter and fundraiser for Hezbollah in The Gambia

Hezbollah is an Iranian-sponsored, internationally sanctioned terrorist group with an anti-Israel and anti-U.S. agenda. Hezbollah is primarily based in Lebanon, but has carried out terrorist and criminal operations around the world.

  • Designations

United States

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Daily Dose

Extremists: Their Words. Their Actions.

In Their Own Words:

We reiterate once again that the brigades will directly target US bases across the region in case the US enemy commits a folly and decides to strike our resistance fighters and their camps [in Iraq].

Abu Ali al-Askari, Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) Security Official Mar. 2023
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