Michel Samaha

Michel Samaha is a former minister of information and minister of tourism in Lebanon, and a longtime politician and intelligence operative. Samaha was known for his long and close relationship with the Ba'athist Syrian government, and was one of several Lebanese officials sanctioned by the United States in 2007 for allegedly "contributing to political and economic instability in Lebanon." In December 2012 Samaha was listed by the United States as a global terrorist under section 1(b) of Executive Order 13224.