On Monday, a Bulgarian court sentence two men of Lebanese origin to life without parole for their involvement in the 2012 bus bombing at the Burgas Airport.
Based on DNA evidence, the attack was carried out by 23-year-old Lebanese-French Mohamad Hassan El-Husseini.
He carried a backpack bomb that detonated in a bus killing him, the Bulgarian bus driver, five Israeli tourists, and injuring over 35 passengers, all Israeli nationals.
According to AFP, “The tourists who were killed were all in their twenties, except for a pregnant 42-year-old woman.”
El-Husseini’s accomplices were identified as Lebanese-Australian Meliad Farah, who was 31 at the time, and Lebanese-Canadian Hassan El-Hajj Hassan, who was 24.
Having fled Bulgaria on the night of the attack, both Farah and Hassan were tried in absentia by Judge Adelina Ivanova and found guilty of terrorism and manslaughter.
Both Bulgarian and Israeli authorities have blamed the attack on Hezbollah, who denied involvement in the attack.
However, both Farah and Hassan were linked to Hezbollah due to the nature of the bomb, which included ammonium nitrate, a chemical “pointed to the group,” said Reuters.
In addition, they were wired money from Hezbollah in 2013, found to have family links to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and had also printed fake driver licenses in Beirut, reportedly in the Lebanese International University (LIU).
Interpol has issued a red notice for both Farah and Hassan who are still at large.
