Bader El-Din was also involved in establishing a terror cell that operated in Kuwait, for which he was arrested and sentenced to death. Following his arrest, Hezbollah's ESO began mounting attacks in Kuwait and abroad, in the hope of achieving his release. These included hijacks of Kuwaiti and Western airplanes, and abductions of Western citizens in Beirut. Bader El-Din escaped from prison during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990