Hezbollah foreign relations

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Hezbollah
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Although UN Security Council Resolution 1559, calls for "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia",[3], many UN actors have refused to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.[4].

Hezbollah has close relations with Iran.[1] It also has ties with the Alawite leadership in Syria, specifically with President Hafez al-Assad (until his death in 2000) and his son and successor Bashar al-Assad.[2] Hezbollah has declared its support for the ongoing al-Aqsa intifada.

There is no concrete evidence of Hezbollah contact or cooperation with al-Qaeda. [3] Hezbollah's leaders denies links to al-Qaeda, present or past.[4][5] Also some of the al-Qaeda's leaders like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi[6] and Wahhabists clerics consider Hezbollah to be apostate.[7][8] But United States intelligence officials speculate there has been contact between Hezbollah and low-level al-Qaeda figures who fled Afghanistan for Lebanon.[9][10]

Contents

[edit] Position of the UN

UN Security Council Resolution 1559, calls for "the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militia",[11] echoing the Taif Agreement that ended the Lebanese Civil War, but does not explicitly include Hezbollah[12][13] although Kofi Annan has advanced this interpretation.[14][15] The Lebanese Government[16] and Hezbollah dispute the application of this resolution to Hezbollah, referring to it as a "resistance movement" and not a militia. Israel has lodged complaints about Hezbollah's actions with the UN.[17] Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem has said that its forces might become a "reservist army" within the Lebanese army, though this suggestion is not universally supported within the organisation.[18]

The UN’s Deputy Secretary-General, Mark Malloch Brown, contests characterisations of the Lebanese militia as a terrorist organisation in the mould of al-Qaeda.[19] While acknowledging that “Hezbollah employs terrorist tactics,”[20] he says that it is unhelpful to call it a terrorist organization; the United States and the international community, in his view, would do well to respect it as a legitimate political party. Brown also criticized Hizbullah, "It is making no effort to hit military targets; it's just a broadside against civilian targets."[21]

On the other end of the spectrum, some "UN actors have even denied that Hizbullah is a terrorist organization."[22] Mahmoud Aboul-Nasr, an Egyptian UN actor, called Hezbollah "a resistance movement that was fighting foreign occupation, just as there had been during the Second World War."[22]

[edit] Non-Lebanese alliances

[edit] Iran

In a July 20, 2006 article, scholar Fred Halliday wrote that Sheikh Naim Qassem, deputy leader of Hezbollah under Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, told him Hezbollah follows Iran's leadership as a matter of principle:[23]

"On the matter of political relations with Iran, the sheikh was absolutely clear. Hizbollah regards the Iranian supreme leader, in this case Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as its ultimate authority; all major political decisions regarding Hizbollah are referred to – when not actually taken in – Iran. He gave the example of the decision taken in 1992 to enter Lebanese national politics: Hizbollah set up a commission, which prepared a report, with various options; this report was sent to Iran; it was Ayatollah Khamenei himself who took the final decision, in favour of participation."

[edit] Syria

It is widely believed that Hafez al-Assad, who was president of Syria from 1971 to 2000, and Hezbollah were closely linked; this did not significantly affect his relations with the rest of the world. Bashar al-Assad, his son and successor, has been subjected to sanctions by the U.S. due to (among other things, such as occupying Lebanon) his continued support for Hezbollah, which it views as a terrorist organization.

In an interview on Al-Arabiya TV in Dubai, former Hezbollah Secretary-General Subhi Al-Tufeili said[24] Hezbollah definitely fosters its relations with the Syrians, but Hezbollah's real leadership is 'the rule of the jurisprudence'.

[edit] Hamas and Palestinian Movement

According to CRS report for U.S. Congress:

"Although Hezbollah and Hamas are not organizationally linked, Hezbollah provides military training as well as financial and moral support to the Palestinian group and has acted in some ways as a mentor or role model for Hamas, which has sought to emulate the Lebanese group’s political and media success. Hamas’s kidnaping of the Israeli soldier follows a different Hezbollah example. Moreover, two groups share the goal of driving Israel from occipied territories and ultimately eliminating it; both maintain close ties with Iran."[25]

According to an Israeli military source, Hezbollah assists Hamas with bomb production: "They know how to make them more concentrated, what kind of screw to use, how to pack more explosives into less space."[26]

Nasrallah has declared his support for the ongoing al-Aqsa Intifada.[27]

[edit] Alleged relationships to non-Lebanese Islamist movements

[edit] al-Qaeda

There is no concrete evidence of Hezbollah contact or cooperation with al-Qaida. United States intelligence officials speculate there has been contact between Hezbollah and low-level al-Qaeda figures who fled Afghanistan for Lebanon.[28][29][30][31][32] One example of evidence of the alliance was in the public testimony "by Ali Mohamed, a former U.S. Green Beret who pleaded guilty to conspiring with bin Laden to bomb U.S. embassies in Africa. ... Hezbollah, he testified, provided explosives training to al Qaeda."[33] According to Middle East Quarterly and the Washington Post, "Al Qaeda members received advice and training from Hezbollah."[34][33] In a 2002 article, the Washington Post claimed:

"The new cooperation ... includes coordination on explosives and tactics training, money laundering, weapons smuggling and acquiring forged documents, according to knowledgeable sources. This new alliance, even if informal, has greatly concerned U.S. officials in Washington and intelligence operatives abroad who believe the assets and organization of Hezbollah's formidable militant wing will enable a hobbled al Qaeda network to increase its ability to launch attacks against American targets."[33]

Some American newspapers have suggested a broader alliance between Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.[35]

On the other hand, others point out that al-Qaeda’s Sunni Wahhabist ideology is fundamentally incompatible with Hezbollah’s relatively liberal brand of Shia Islam; in fact, some Wahhabi leaders consider Hezbollah to be apostate.[36] There is a Fatwa which issued several years ago by Sheikh Abdullah bin Jebreen, a former member of the Council of Senior Ulema, Saudi Arabia's highest religious body, it describes Hezbollah as "rafidhi" - a derogatory term for Shiites used by some Sunni fanatics.

"It is not permissible to support this rafidhi party ... or pray for its victory, and we advise Sunnis to disavow it,"

the fatwa says.

Even during 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict it was cited by some hardline Sunni Muslim clerics and others writing on Islamist website.[37]

Al-Qaeda has demonstrated its distaste for Shi’as in suicide bombings and attacks on Shi’a civilian targets in Iraq.[38] Hezbollah denies any ties to al-Qaeda[39] and al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has issued an audio recording in which he called Hezbollah an "enemy of Sunnis" and a "shield" for Israel,[40] for protecting Israel by preventing Palestinian attacks from Lebanon. Saint Petersburg Times and ABC News and MSNBC report that there exists no evidence of a connection between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda.[41][42] Nevertheless, the Washington Post claimed:

"There is little dispute that al Qaeda and Hezbollah operatives work together, but some analysts reject the notion that the two groups have buried their differences, which have long been sharp because they derive their support from the two competing branches of Islam."[33]

Nasrallah denies links to al-Qaeda, present or past, stating in a 2002 interview that the two groups work in different areas and face different enemies. Hezbollah’s aim has been the "confrontation of the Zionist plan," said Nasrallah, while bin Laden has focused on Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Bosnia, and Chechnya. "So we are talking about two different areas and battles facing two completely different enemies. This was the reason why there wasn’t any contact."[43]

As part of a surge of intersectarian support for Lebanon’s Muslims during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, called for Muslims to rise up in a holy war against Zionists and join the fighting in Lebanon.[44] But Mohammed Fneish, Lebanon’s Energy Minister, one of the two Hezbollah members in government, responded "Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah are two different groups. Al-Qaeda believes in killing innocents. Hezbollah is involved in a legitimate resistance [against Israel]."[45]

NEFA Foundation investigative consultant and consultant and freelance writer on terror finance and national security issues Douglas Farah reports in his article 'Hezbollah-al Qaeda Ties Increase Danger in Lebanon':

"While Zarqawi fanned the flames of the Sunni-Shi’ite divide inside Iraq, it was in part a tactical decision to weaken the government and cause a civil war, rather than a theological decision."[...] "The point of contact with Bin Laden in Sudan was Imad Mugniya, the person currently considered to be Hezbollah’s chief of military operations and the likely instigator of the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers."[...] "Since the early 1990s contact between the two groups there have been other interactions. Hezbollah operatives-Aziz Nassour and Samih Osailly- provided the infrastructure for al Qaeda’s diamond operations in Liberia and Sierra Leone that helped al Qaeda transfer millions of dollars into fungible assets and out of the range of the West’s financial sanctions."[..] "The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and in the case of Lebanon, that saying could well apply to Hezbollah and al Qaeda regardless of religious differences." [46]

The National Review reports in 'The new front, An ominous alliance in Lebanon':

"A rash of reports have surfaced about a growing al-Qaeda presence in Lebanon. According to both American and European sources, operatives of the group are hard at work establishing a new terror infrastructure in that country with the active operational and logistical assistance of Hezbollah, Lebanon's terrorist powerhouse." [...] "Such a union is logical. Despite their religious incompatibility — Hezbollah, an Iranian invention, is Shiite, while bin Laden and al-Qaeda are Sunni — practical coordination between the two terror outfits has gone on for years. As long ago as 1994, the Lebanese militia was already providing explosives training to members of al-Qaeda and Egypt's affiliated al-Jihad group, according to the federal testimony of one bin Laden lieutenant. Bin Laden himself is also known to have had at least one meeting with Imad Mughniyeh, the shadowy head of Hezbollah's military wing who is widely known to be Iran's man in Lebanon, during the mid-1990s." [...] "....all three organizations — Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and Hamas — are reported to have met in Lebanon in March of 2002 to coordinate strategy against the United States" [47]

BORR News Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence refers to the publication 'Qaeda and Hezbollah seen in alliance of terror' by The Washington Post which reports:

"The Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization, one of the world's most formidable terrorist groups, is increasingly teaming up with Al Qaeda on logistics and training for terrorist operations, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials and terrorism experts." [..] "The new cooperation is ad hoc and tactical and involves mid- and low-level operatives. It mutes years of rivalry between Hezbollah, which draws its support primarily from Shiite Muslims, and Al-Qaeda, which is predominantly Sunni. It includes coordination on explosives and tactics training, money laundering, weapons smuggling and acquiring forged documents, according to knowledgeable sources." [...] "Although cooperation between Al Qaeda and Hezbollah may have been going on at some level for years, the U.S. war against Al Qaeda has hastened and deepened the relationship." [...] "There is little dispute that Al Qaeda and Hezbollah operatives work together, but some analysts reject the notion that the two groups have buried their differences, which have long been sharp because they are based on the two competing branches of Islam." [48]

Seymour Hersh however contends this version and argues that the bolstering of Salafi groups with possible links to al-Qaeda might be considered as a by-product of the US-sponsored containment policy against Hezbollah.[49]

[edit] al-Mahdi Army

Hezbollah claims that it forbids its fighters entry into Iraq for any reason, and that no Hezbollah units or individual fighters have entered Iraq to support any Iraqi faction fighting the United States. On April 2, 2004, Iraqi cleric and Mahdi Army founder Muqtada al-Sadr announced his intention to form chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq[50], and Mahdi senior member Abu Mujtaba claimed they were choosing 1,500 fighters to go to Lebanon.[51]

[edit] Other Islamist groups

There have been American claims that Hezbollah has engaged in joint operations with the Sunni[52] Palestinian militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement.[53]

[edit] European Union

The European Union has not proscribed the activities of Hezbollah; the organisation does not appear on the EU's official list of terrorist groups.[54]. Two EU countries have imposed partial or complete prohibitions on Hezbollah. The Netherlands has proscribed the organisation fully[55][56], while the United Kingdom has proscribed Hezbollah's paramilitary External Security Organization, but not the organisation's political wing.[57]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ A Lebanese fragment: two days with Hizbollah
  2. ^ Syria and Hezbollah: A Loveless Alliance
  3. ^ Tehran, Washington, And Terror: No Agreement To Differ by A. W. Samii, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Volume 6, No. 3, September 2002 - citing Al-Majallah, March 24-March 30, 2002 and Al-Watan March 19, 2002
  4. ^ Tehran, Washington, And Terror: No Agreement To Differ by A. W. Samii, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Volume 6, No. 3, September 2002 - citing Al-Majallah, March 24-March 30, 2002 and Al-Watan March 19, 2002
  5. ^ USATODAY.com - Minister: Hezbollah doesn't need al-Qaeda's help fighting Israel in Lebanon
  6. ^ BBC News. "'Zarqawi tape' urges Sunni unrest", 2006-06-02. Retrieved on 2006-07-26. 
  7. ^ Jerusalem Post, August 5, 2006 Saudi religious leader blasts Hizbullah Accessed August 6, 2006
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ CBS News (2002-07-26). Terrorism Alliance?. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.
  10. ^ Mike Boettcher, Henry Schuster. "New terror alliance suspected in Iraq", CNN World News, 2003-08-13. Retrieved on 2006-07-26. 
  11. ^ Security Council (Press Release) (2006-01-23). SECURITY COUNCIL NOTES SIGNIFICANT PROGRESS IN LEBANON. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.
  12. ^ United Nations July 24, 2006 Press Encounter with the Secretary-General at the Security Council Stakeout Accessed August 5, 2006
  13. ^ United Nations, October 17, 2005 Highlights of the Spokesman's Noon Briefing Accessed August 5, 2006
  14. ^ United Nations, July 22, 2006 US and UN share broad long-range objectives on Middle East – Annan Accessed August 5, 2006
  15. ^ United Nations, October 26, 2005 S/2005/673 Letter dated 26 October 2005 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council Accessed August 5, 2006
  16. ^ "Hezbollah disarmament unclear", CNN, May 7, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-08-05. 
  17. ^ Mekel, Arye (2003-01-14). The situation in the Middle East - Measures to eliminate international terrorism. General Assembly Security Council, United Nations. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.
  18. ^ Jane's Sentinel Eastern Mediterranean, issue no. 19, 2006
  19. ^ "No peace without Hezbollah, says Beirut", Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-08-04. Retrieved on 2006-08-07. 
  20. ^ "U.N.'s Malloch Brown Questions Hezbollah's 'Terror' Designation", FOx News. Retrieved on 2006-08-07. 
  21. ^ "U.N. boss: Hezbollah deserves U.S. respect", World Net Daily, 2006-08-03. Retrieved on 2006-08-07. 
  22. ^ a b Bayefsky, Anne. "Kofi Annan to Hizbullah's rescue?" Editorial. Jerusalem Post. 8 Auguest 2006. 23 December 2006.
  23. ^ A Lebanese fragment: two days with Hizbollah | openDemocracy
  24. ^ Video clip
  25. ^ Israel-Hamas-Hezbollah: The Current Conflict. CRS Report for Congress (July 21, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-09-08.
  26. ^ Washington Post, August 18, 2002 Suicide Bombers Change Mideast's Military Balance Accessed August 4, 2006
  27. ^ Address of the Secretary-General of Hizbullah “Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah” at the Tehran Convention Supporting the Intifada (Palestinian Uprising). Islamic Resistance in Lebanon (2001-04-24). Retrieved on 2006-07-27.
  28. ^ See:
  29. ^ 'Hezbollah-al Qaeda Ties Increase Danger in Lebanon'
  30. ^ The new front, An ominous alliance in Lebanon. The National Review (2002-07-12). Retrieved on 2002-07-12.
  31. ^ Qaeda and Hezbollah seen in alliance of terror. The Washtington Post/The International Herald Tribune (2002-07-01). Retrieved on 2002-07-01.
  32. ^ The Al-Qaida-Hizballah Connection. Institute for Counter-Terrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya (2006-02-26). Retrieved on 2006-07-26.
  33. ^ a b c d Priest, Dana and Douglas Farah. "Terror Alliance Has U.S. Worried." Washington Post. 30 June 2002. 18 September 2006.
  34. ^ "Iran's Link to Al-Qaeda: The 9-11 Commission's Evidence." Middle East Forum. Fall 2004. 18 September 2006.
  35. ^ See:
  36. ^ Jerusalem Post, August 5, 2006 Saudi religious leader blasts Hizbullah Accessed August 6, 2006
  37. ^ [2]
  38. ^ Al Jazeera. "Al-Zarqawi declares war on Iraqi Shia", 2005-09-14. Retrieved on 2006-07-26. (English) 
  39. ^ People's Daily (China). "Lebanon's Hezbollah Denies Link with Al-Qaeda", 2002-07-01. Retrieved on 2006-07-26. 
  40. ^ BBC News. "'Zarqawi tape' urges Sunni unrest", 2006-06-02. Retrieved on 2006-07-26. 
  41. ^ Jane's World Insurgency and Terrorism.Group Profile: Hizbullah Accessed July 28, 2006
  42. ^ See:
  43. ^ Tehran, Washington, And Terror: No Agreement To Differ by A. W. Samii, Middle East Review of International Affairs, Volume 6, No. 3, September 2002 - citing Al-Majallah, March 24-March 30, 2002 and Al-Watan March 19, 2002
  44. ^ CNN, July 27, 2006 Al Qaeda: War with Zionists is 'jihad' Accessed July 29, 2006
  45. ^ USATODAY.com - Minister: Hezbollah doesn't need al-Qaeda's help fighting Israel in Lebanon
  46. ^ Hezbollah-al Qaeda Ties Increase Danger in Lebanon. Douglas Farah (2006-07-16). Retrieved on 2006-07-16.
  47. ^ The new front, An ominous alliance in Lebanon. The National Review (2002-07-12). Retrieved on 2002-07-12.
  48. ^ Qaeda and Hezbollah seen in alliance of terror. The Washtington Post/The International Herald Tribune (2002-07-01). Retrieved on 2002-07-01.
  49. ^ Hersh, Seymour. "The Redirection." The New Yorker. 5 March 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2007.
  50. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey. "THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: UNREST; A Young Radical's Anti-U.S. Wrath Is Unleashed", The New York Times, 2004-04-05. Retrieved on 2006-07-26.  "[Moktada al-Sadr] announced that he was opening Iraqi chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas"
  51. ^ Iraqi Shi'ite militia ready to join fight Sharon Behn, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 2006-07-24
  52. ^ National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (the 9/11 Commission) Statement of Mark Gasiorowski July 9, 2003 Accessed August 8, 2006
  53. ^ Matthew A. Levitt in Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, November-December 2002 Sponsoring Terrorism: Syria and Islamic Jihad Accessed August 10, 2006
  54. ^ COUNCIL DECISION of 2 May 2002 implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism and repealing Decision 2001/927/EC, Official Journal of the European Communities L 116/33, 3 May 2002
  55. ^ beantwoording_toezegging_inzake_de_positie_van_hezbollah (website) 1. The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved on 2006-10-11.
  56. ^ Annual Report 2004. Netherlands General intelligence and security service.
  57. ^ List of proscribed terrorist groups (website) 1. United Kingdom Home Office. Retrieved on 2007-04-02.

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