The United States on Monday offered $10 million to find a fugitive Hizbullah suspect who was convicted over the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
The State Department said it would offer the reward for “information leading to the location or identification” of Salim Ayyash or “information leading to preventing him from engaging in an act of international terrorism against a U.S. person or U.S. property.”
The Special Tribunal for Lebanon, set up by the United Nations in The Netherlands, in December convicted Ayyash in absentia to life in prison over the killing of Hariri in 2005.
Ayyash, 57, is believed to be in hiding in Lebanon where Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has refused to hand him over.
The tribunal has since said it will also try Ayyash over three other attacks on Lebanese politicians Georges Hawi, Marwan Hamadeh and Elias Murr in the mid-2000s.
The State Department said that Ayyash has also plotted to harm U.S. military personnel.
Hariri was allegedly killed because he opposed Lebanon’s control by Syria, which is allied with Hizbullah. The assassination sparked the Cedar Revolution which forced out Syrian troops.
The United States considers Hizbullah a “terrorist” group but the movement wields major political power in Lebanon and has seats in parliament.