El-Hoorie, Ali Saed Bin Ali (1965–)

aka Ali Saed bin Ali al-Houri

Ali el-Hoorie allegedly played a key role in preparing and carrying out the 1996 tanker truck bombing of the Khobar Towers military barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. The explosion, attributed to the Saudi Hezbollah group, killed 19 U.S. military personnel and wounded approximately 500. The FBI, citing his involvement in the Khobar attack, has placed el-Hoorie on its list of 22 “most wanted terrorists.”

According to the 2001 U.S. indictment, el-Hoorie, born in El Dibabiya, Saudi Arabia, was a member of Saudi Hezbollah (also called Hezbollah al-Hijaz) and worked as a major recruiter for the group. Saudi Hezbollah is largely made up of young men of Shiite Muslim faith who are loyal to Iran, not the Saudi government. The group is outlawed in Saudi Arabia; thus its operatives often work and recruit in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.

El-Hoorie ...