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Hezbollah Secretary General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah (AP) Last update - 08:37 02/07/2008 Hezbollah trains Shi'ite militias in Iraq on Iran's behalf By The Associated Press Tags: Shi'ite, Iran, Iraq  Hezbollah instructors trained Shi'ite militiamen at remote camps in southern Iraq until three months ago when they slipped across the border to Iran - presumably to continue instruction on Iranian soil, according to two Shiite lawmakers and a top army officer. The three Iraqis claim the Lebanese Shi'ites were also involved in planning some of the most brazen attacks against U.S.-led forces, including the January 2007 raid on a provincial government compound in Karbala in which five Americans died. The allegations, made in separate interviews with The Associated Press, point not only to an Iranian hand in the Iraq war, but also to Hezbollah's willingness to expand beyond its Lebanese base and assume a broader role in the struggle against U.S. influence in the Middle East. Advertisement All this suggests that Shi'ite-dominated Iran is waging a proxy war against the United States to secure a dominant role in majority-Shi'ite Iraq, which has supplanted Lebanon as Tehran's top priority in the Middle East. "The stakes are much higher in Iraq, where there is a Shi'ite majority, oil, the shrine cities and borders with Saudi Arabia," said analyst Farid al-Khazen, a Christian Lebanese lawmaker whose party is allied with Hezbollah. "The big story is Iraq, and the Americans unwittingly opened it up for the Iranians by their invasion in 2003," al-Khazen said. The allegations come as the United States and Iran are engaged in a showdown over Tehran's nuclear program and each country's role in Iraq. Iran, Hezbollah's mentor, denies giving any support to Shi'ite extremists in Iraq. But the three Iraqis who spoke to the AP said the Iranians prefer to use Hezbollah instructors because as Arabs, they can communicate better with the Iraqi Shi'ites and maintain a lower profile than Farsi-speakers from Iran. For Hezbollah, a high-risk role in Iraq could give the Lebanese movement leverage with the United States and broaden its appeal within the Arab world where anti-American sentiment remains strong. Iraqi officials have said little about a Hezbollah role in this country. However, President Jalal Talabani told U.S.-funded Alhurra television this week that there have been several occasions when Hezbollah members or those who claim to belong to Hezbollah have been detained in Iraq. He gave no further details. But the two Iraqi lawmakers and the military officer said Hezbollah instructors work only with members of the Iraqi Shiite special groups, the U.S. military's name for splinter factions of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. The U.S. believes that Iran's elite Quds Force, a branch of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, supports the special groups. All three Iraqis spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not supposed to release the information. The lawmakers belong to al-Sadr's movement and were involved in the creation of the Mahdi Army in 2003. The military officer's job gives him access to highly classified intelligence information. They said Hezbollah began training Shi'ite militiamen in the second half of 2006 at two camps - Deir and Kutaiban - east of Basra near the Iranian border. They fled across the border in late March or early April this year after U.S.-backed Iraqi forces launched a crackdown against militias in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. In Iran, training resumed in camps once used by Iraqi exiles who fought with Iranian forces during the 1980s war between the two countries, the lawmakers said. Instruction includes explosives, ambushes and use of rockets and mortars. Citing testimony from special groups members in custody, the officer said the Hezbollah instructors never numbered more than 10 at any one time, kept a low profile and moved back and forth over the Iranian border. Indications that Hezbollah was playing a role in Iraq first surfaced last July when the U.S. military announced the arrest of Ali Musa Daqduq, a Lebanese-born Hezbollah operative allegedly training Iraqi Shi'ite militiamen. At least one other Hezbollah operative, identified only as Faris, was detained in Basra during fighting there in April and was handed over to the Americans, the Iraqi military officer said. The U.S. military has said little publicly about Hezbollah's involvement here since announcing Daqduq's arrest, though it has frequently alleged an Iranian role in arming, equipping and training Shi'ite extremists. "At this point in time, we do not have any new, releasable information regarding Hezbollah's involvement with special groups in Iran and Iraq," a military spokesman, Capt. Charles Calio, said in an e-mail to the AP. A Hezbollah spokesman in Beirut, Lebanon, refused to comment on any role for his organization. However, Ibrahim al-Ameen, a Lebanese newspaper editor close to Hezbollah, said in a recent interview in Beirut that Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, spends several hours daily dealing with the situation in Iraq. Nasrallah, who studied Shi'ite theology in Iraq, spoke at length about Iraqi resistance during a speech last May that analysts believed was aimed at bolstering his image as a godfather of Arab opposition to the United States and Israel throughout the Middle East. Beside its alleged role in Iraq, Hezbollah is known to have ties to the Palestinian militant Hamas group. The charismatic Nasrallah has become a sort of folk hero in the mostly Sunni Arab world after his guerrillas fought Israeli forces to a standstill in a 34-day war in 2006. A senior Western diplomat based in the Middle East said his government has information suggesting a growing Hezbollah interest in events in Iraq. However, the diplomat would say no more and insisted on anonymity because the subject is so sensitive. Hezbollah's possible role in direct attacks against U.S.-led forces is murkier and more explosive. The two Iraqi lawmakers said Hezbollah operatives planned and supervised both the Karbala attack and the brazen daylight kidnapping of five British nationals from a Finance Ministry compound in Baghdad in May 2007. The Britons are still being held. In the Karbala attack, English-speaking militants wearing American uniforms and carrying American weapons stormed the compound, killing one U.S. soldier and abducting four. The four were later found dead. A senior Mahdi Army commander in Baghdad, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said Hezbollah's operations in Iraq had been supervised by Imad Mughniyeh, a top commander of the guerrilla group killed in a car bomb in Syria last February. The shadowy figure was suspected of a role in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1992 attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Related articles: Israel fears Iran may ship Hezbollah arms via Beirut port Top U.S. military officer says Iran jeopardizing peace in Iraq IDF: Iran-trained militant arrested in Gaza raid last month Bookmark to del.icio.us   Terror in the capital A Palestinian rammed his bulldozer into a bus in Jerusalem, killing three. Poetic injustice Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish blends sarcasm and hope in his latest work.   1.   Israeli disinformation to drag America into their wars 11:33  |  Natallie Durson 02/07/08   2.   Hizbullah Training Sunni Terrorists at ?Furious Pace? 12:27  |  Jean Van Daem 02/07/08   3.   Not surprised 13:16  |  Sadiq M 02/07/08   4.   DURSON Talabani"several occasions-when Hezbollah members-detaine 13:29  |  PETER SM 02/07/08   5.   WHAT WILL THE US CORRUPT GOVERNMENTALS DO ABOUT IT?THE COWARDS.. 18:02  |  glenna 02/07/08   6.   Israel trains Terrorist groups too 19:56  |  izi 02/07/08   7.   how about the U.S. train Sunnis etc. 00:32  |  nat 03/07/08   8.   US/Iran 02:36  |  Cameron 03/07/08   9.   ISRAEL SHOULD ONLY NEGOTIATE IF NASRALLAH TAKES A SHOWER 09:37  |  PalestniansAreA Myth 03/07/08

Read & React Two teachers among the dead in Jerusalem attack Responses: 37 ANALYSIS / Terrorist or petty criminal run amok? Responses: 32 Ari Shavit: Strike on Iran is good for Israel and U.S. in long run Responses: 10 Reuven Rivlin: When talkbackers, not intelligence, determine decisions Responses: 1 Obama enlists Jewish lawmakers in outreach effort Responses: 6 Rosner's Domain The rules have changed! Klein still alive! (WTR) Why do Arabs support Hamas over Fatah? New poll: Do you believe Israel might attack Iran? Israel's image still under renovation The possibility of an Israeli air strike on Iran (WTR) More Headlines 09:43 Two teachers among the dead in Jerusalem attack 09:09 ANALYSIS / Terrorist or petty criminal run amok? 09:11 On Jaffa Road, the tragedy will soon be overcome 08:33 Nasrallah: Our report contains firm conclusion on Ron Arad's fate 04:26 Canny politician / Nasrallah closes a deal 09:12 Obama enlists Jewish lawmakers in outreach effort 09:25 Ramat Hasharon teen charged with murder in 2006 death of lawyer 06:39 Coalition backs IDF widows right to remarry 19:48 U.S. army chief: Israeli strike on Iran would destabilize Mideast 05:18 Gaydamak loses top business manager after just 6 months 00:16 Palestinian poet: History laughs at both victim and aggressor Previous Editions Select Day 02 jul 01 jul 30 jun 29 jun 27 jun 26 jun 25 jun 24 jun 23 jun 22 jun 20 jun 19 jun

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