- Assem Hammoud
Infobox Person
name = Assem Hammoud
image_size = 235px
caption = Hammoud with friends in Canada
birth_date = July 6, 1975
birth_place =
death_date =
death_place =
nationality =Lebanese
other_names =
alma_mater =
employer =Lebanese International University professor
home_town =
religion = Muslim
spouse =
children =
parents =Assem Hammoud (Arabic:عاصم حمود), aka Amir Andalousi, a
Beirut native, is an allegedAl Qaeda operative living in Lebanon who plotted a mission to blow up the PATH train tunnels beneath the Hudson River betweenNew Jersey and lower Manhattan, New York City,United States with a team of suicide bombers with backpack explosives. He was arrested by theLebanese Armed Forces , a division of the Internal Security Forces (ISF), in the Mouseitbeh area of west Beirut inApril 27 ,2006 . The announcement of his capture was madeJuly 07 ,2006 by FBI Assistant Director Mark J. Mershon.Hudson River bomb plot
Additionally, he was planning to travel to Pakistan for four months training and that the date for the attack was decided to be late in 2006.Fact|date=January 2008
Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff said "It was never a concern that this would actually be executed ... We were, as I say, all over this."
[ [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=73795 The Daily Star (Lebanon)] ] Further, in 2003, Hammoud met with a Syrian man, who took him to Ain al-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, to practice the use of weapons. They added that in 2005, Hammoud met with a "foreign man" who asked him to provide apartments and weapons to the mujahideen.
Background
Hammoud's nom de guerre, Amir Andalousi, means "Spanish Prince," and refers to the time when Spain, or
Al-Andalus , was under Muslim control. From interviews with his mother, the family is reported to have migrated to Lebanon from Spain in the year 800.Hammoud is said to be either a professor of economics or computer science at the
Lebanese International University . He studied finance and economics in Canada in the late 1990s for six years. He speaks English, French and German, in addition to Arabic.His mother, Nabila Qotob (b. 1948), who lives in Beruit's upscale Clemenceau neighborhood, has denied her son's involvement with Al Qaeda. His mother says he drives a 1965 MG.
Hammoud has two brothers, one is studying in Canada and another works in the United Arab Emirates. One brother's name is Ramsey (36).
References
External links
* [http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=73795 Lebanese arrest suspect in New York bomb plot] ; The Daily Star (Lebanon), July 08, 2006.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
