Kings
and Generals of the Nations
This
section covers the formation of the ties between Iran, Hezbollah and Palestine
Islamic Jihad.
Kenneth Katzman, the terrorist analyst for
the US Congress said, "I think you have an 'atomic bomb' brewing between
Osama bin Laden, Hezbollah and the Iranians. If these two huge forces are
married, either could set off the spark. Sooner or later you are going to see
more from these people."
According to Clark Staten, Executive
Director of the Chicago-based Emergency Response and Research Institute (ERRI),
"The insurgent objectives and policies of identifiable nation-states such
as Iran, Iraq, Syria and Libya are being carried out by assembled teams of
'deniable' political and religious fanatics."
In an article written by Steve Macho of the
ERRI Risk Assessment Services published on August 29th, 1997 he states:
"Militant Islamic groups that have been officially described as
international terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestine
Islamic Jihad and others are operating very quietly within the borders of the
Unites States, from New York City to San Diego."
The following statement was submitted by Mr.
Ward Elcock, Director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) to
the Special Committee of the Senate on Security and Intelligence on June 24 of
1998. "The global terrorist threat today compared to ten years ago is
more complex, more extreme, more sophisticated, more diffuse and more
transnational. If the world is now a global village, the threat exists in
every neighborhood."
The Iranian - Hezbollah -
Islamic Jihad Connection
The following is excerpted from "The
Terrorist Connection-Iran, The Islamic Jihad and Hamas," by Elie Rekhess.
Dr. Rekhess is a senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle
Eastern African Studies at Tel Aviv University. The paper was jointly prepared
with Meir Hatina, a PH.D. candidate at Tel Aviv University's School of
History.
Following the end of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran
no longer restricted itself to the Shi'i domains: instead, it opened itself up
to a genuine effort to export its revolution to Sunni-populated areas, such as
Sudan, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt and the Palestinian area. The change in Iran's
external policies coincided with the eruption of the intifada which brought
forth the saliency of Islamic militancy in the form not only of the Palestine
Islamic Jihad movement but, more forcibly, through Hamas. Following the
deportation of the Islamic Jihad leadership to Lebanon in 1988, Iranian
involvement with the organization was significantly enhanced.
Politically, the Islamic Jihad's views on
the Iran-Iraq war and the peace process were and are a mirror reflection of
Iran's views on these issues.
The deportation in 1988 of Fathi Asquaqui
(leader of the Islamic Jihad) and others to Lebanon, and the transfer of the
Palestine Islamic Jihad headquarters to Syria thereafter marked a turning
point in the development of the Iranian-Islamic Jihad relationship. From this
point on direct contact was established between the Islamic Jihad activists
and their Iranian sponsors through Iranian embassies in Beirut and Damascus,
through the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards stationed in Lebanon, and through
Hezbollah.
The State Department's office of
counter-terrorism in its report on international terrorism clearly established
that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad receives funding from Iran. It is also
known that Hezbollah receives funding and arms from Iran on a regular basis.
Both of these groups are considered to be 'umbrella' organizations of Iran, in
that they act largely under the orders and support of Iran. Arms transported
to these groups are primarily funneled through and with the cooperation of
Syria.
Hezbollah and Palestine Islamic Jihad also
have an acknowledged base in an area of South America called the 'tri-border
area' where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet. Iranian secret services
agents and embassies in these three countries cooperate with these groups in
the conduction of terrorist activities in South America, and in providing
Iranian agents and other terrorists with false identity papers for travel to
and from the US and other countries.
For further information on this subject
refer to the 'The Washington Institute for Near East Policy' paper 'Iranian
Links to International Terrorism by Hillary Maun: at http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/watch/Policywatch1998/296.htm
Terrorist Groups supported by
Iran:
