BEYOND THE DROPZONE

Qaeda, Hezbollah working together in Africa / Iranian Special Forces in Beirut

Posted by W. Thomas Smith Jr. on 7 September 2008 at 12:12 am UTC

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

Sunni Al Qaeda and Shiia Hezbollah are increasingly working together on the African continent, particularly in unstable countries like Sudan and across the remote, lawless regions of North Africa and the Sahel belt.

For instance, in February we learned of a 35-man Jihadi terrorist cell in Morocco, which was quickly shut down. As I’ve written on several occasions since, the size and international scope of that cell and the professional backgrounds of the cell members (businessmen, politicians, a television journalist, and a police official) were disturbing to say the least. But the worst part was that the cell members were found to have been trained by Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan and funded by Hezbollah in Lebanon. And we know Hezbollah is funded and trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In March, Dr. J. Peter Pham, an Africa expert and a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told me during an interview for Human Events, “Different groups will coalesce and align against conventional wisdom. What most analysts view as the Shiia-Sunni divide is papered over as militants and extremists will take money from anyone, and build alliances of convenience against their common enemy.�

It’s the adage, “I against my brother, I and my brother against our cousin, my brother and our cousin against the neighbors, all of us against the foreigner.” We have seen increasing evidence of this dynamic in Iraq and Afghanistan. We certainly picked up – from chatter and publicly released statements – information indicating Sunni and Shiia alike were mourning the February assassination of Hezbollah terrorist-mastermind Imad Mughniyeh, and calling for revenge killings worldwide. But nowhere are we seeing greater evidence of this cooperation and coordination of effort (the goal of establishing launching bases for which to strike American and Western interests in the Eastern Hemisphere and beyond) than on the Dark Continent.

Yesterday, an intelligence community source informed us, “That [Moroccan] cell we uncovered in February is just the tip of the iceberg.�

The source added, Sunni and Shiia extremists in Africa “are certainly cooperating with one another.�

IN OTHER NEWS: The Reform Party of Syria has just published the following report:

“A secret delegation of al-Qods Force arrived Beirut last week for high level meetings with Hezbollah’s top brass for the purpose of coordinating collective activities in Lebanon in light of Hezbollah’s de facto take-over of Lebanon. The secret delegation intentionally arrived Beirut as Sarkozy landed in Damascus and while the Syrians were distracted with Sarkozy.â€�

The Qods (Quds or Jerusalem) force is the extranational special-operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Quds commandos are Iran’s most committed fighters, trained to conduct terrorist operations worldwide.

Our sources have confirmed that Quds fighters were in Lebanon, operating with Hezbollah forces during the fighting in May.

Additional information will follow.

— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. online at uswriter.com.

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