The Biden deal will free a dangerous man at a dangerous time. Alex Saab is an operative for Hezbollah’s external security organization, known as Islamic Jihad. A jury convicted him in May of receiving training from Hezbollah and making false statements, and he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. …

It’s worth asking why a Lebanese terrorist was such a high priority for a Venezuelan dictator. Maduro has pursued a strategy of selling out to more powerful rogues in order to keep his disastrous regime afloat. First Russia, then China, and now Iran, Hezbollah’s patron.

The Maduro regime signed a $460 million contract in June with Iran’s state-owned oil company to revamp Venezuela’s largest petroleum refinery, and Maduro has made it clear that Venezuela will be a safe haven for operatives associated with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

[This may be worse than the Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner trade, also engineered by Biden. Bout probably began working for Putin to run arms for Putin’s war in Ukraine, but Saab will become a real risk for US security. This smells like an extension of Biden’s appeasement strategy toward Tehran. — Ed]