QUITO — Ecuador has arrested a Syrian man identified by the United States as a terrorist threat for belonging to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, according to authorities. The man, identified only as M.K., entered Ecuador without proper documentation.

Interior Minister John Reimberg said on X that the man had been arrested in a joint operation between immigration authorities and the national police intelligence service. "Deportation proceedings have been initiated," he said.

The arrested man had a previous encounter with Ecuadoran authorities. He was arrested in Ecuador in 2005 on charges of leading a drug trafficking network that allegedly moved millions of dollars on behalf of Hezbollah, according to the interior minister's social media post. He was granted provisional release in 2012. "There are international terrorist groups that intend to operate in the country, and President Daniel Noboa's Government will not allow it," he said.

President Daniel Noboa issued a decree last year blacklisting Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas as terrorist organizations. President Daniel Noboa said that Hezbollah and Hamas advise drug trafficking gangs operating in Ecuador.

The government of President Daniel Noboa is conducting operations against drug trafficking gangs with support from the United States. Earlier this month, Ecuador launched operations against drug traffickers with support from the United States.

The United States and Ecuador are part of a 17-country cartel-fighting alliance launched by President Donald Trump at a summit earlier this month. United States and Ecuadoran forces conducted joint strikes inside Ecuador. The FBI said it would open an office in Ecuador to investigate organized crime, money laundering, and corruption in conjunction with local police.

Lebanon-based Hezbollah is fighting with Israel in the Middle East war that began after strikes by the United States and Israel on Iran. President Daniel Noboa has spent the past two years targeting cocaine traffickers. The rates of murders, disappearances, and extortion associated with cocaine trafficking have not fallen.