Hizbollah's Role In Attacks Against Us & Uk Troops In Iraq

Regardless of the debate in the U.S. over the nature of the Iranian threat, Tehran is employing surrogate forces like Hizbullah against the U.S.-led Coalition forces in Iraq. On Aug. 27, Coalition forces captured a senior leader of the Iranianbacked Special Groups in Iraq who travels frequently to Iran and Lebanon. What emerges from the following analysis is that Iranian-backed Hizbullah is not just a Lebanese issue but is part of the larger problem of global terrorism. Hizbullah’s Role in Attacks Against U.S. and British Forces in Iraq By Jonathan Dahoah Halevi * Asharq Alawsat reported on August 18, 2008, that Hizbullah operatives were involved in attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces in four Iraqi provinces. In June 2006, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield disclosed that Hizbullah cadres had attacked U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. Hizbullah units claimed responsibility for operations against coalition forces and Iraqi security personnel as early as the latter part of 2005. * A senior U.S. intelligence officer said that the activists of the “Special Groups” (Shiite terror cells in Iraq) undergo training and military instruction administered by the Iranian Revolution Guards’ Qods Force and Lebanese Hizbullah at training camps in the cities of Qom, Tehran, Ahwaz, and Mashad. * The official website of the Hizbullah Brigades in Iraq features scores of video clips depicting the setting off of a number of sabotage charges in one place, the use of two explosive charges in succession in order to harm the rescue forces as well, the use of mortars mounted on trucks in order to make a quick getaway, and the launching a shoulder-fired Strela missile against helicopters. * Hizbullah’s deep involvement in terror throughout Iraq demonstrates that the organization does not view itself purely as a Lebanese factor with national and local objectives, but as an arm of Iran in spreading the Shiite Islamic Revolution throughout the Middle East (the Shiite crescent) and in the long term throughout the entire world. * The distinction between the military wing of Hizbullah and the political or social wing is an artificial distinction that is fundamentally flawed. Hizbullah views all wings of its organization as parts of a single body that are intended to achieve the identical strategic goal of spreading Islam and waging constant war against the apostates until their defeat. • Western aid funds help reinforce the Hizbullah infrastructure in Lebanon that is attempting to take over the country. Hizbullah’s Jihad al-Bina (Jihad for development) construction company is in contact with European bodies and it receives funding, inter alia, from Lebanese municipalities that are supported by the West.