Crossfire War – RAPID FIRE NEWS=TEHRAN – BAGHDAD – BEIRUT WATCH – West Asia Theatre
Iran Has Had Hezbollah Train Shia Militias in Iraq Since 2006 – First at Remote Camps in Southern Iraq Now in Iran – Serious Infiltration Attempt into Kashmir
Night Watch: DEIR – Tehran has used Hezbollah’s expertise and success in the 2006 war against Israel to use the Shia militia to play a strategic role in training a new generation of Shia militias in Iraq. The Jerusalem Post/AP based their findings on several interviews with many officials only speaking on condition of anonymity due to the subject’s sensitivity. But one man who did give his name was the Christian Lebanese lawmaker whose party is allied to Hezbollah, Farid al-Khazem, “The big story is Iraq and the Americans unwittingly opened it up for the Iranians by their invasion in 2003. The stakes are much higher in Iraq…where there is oil.” This is why I have often mentioned the economic priorities of Tehran’s regional and international policy, in other words their military strategy and the reason they establish and use Islamic militant groups like Hezbollah and the Mahdi Army in Iraq, in order to control the region’s resources. And this is why though Israel is a target they were never the main one, just compare the market value for Israel’s Dead Sea salt to Iraq’s oil. Tehran has spent years on establishing Hezbollah in Lebanon, since 1982, and they are not about to let Hezbollah confine its successes there, not when there are Islamic Shia militias that can be trained in more effective action against UK/U S troops in Iraq. [JPOST]
The enormously suspicious 2003 invasion placed the lost alliance in one of the greatest military sand traps in modern history and has made them an easy target right across Iran’s border an enemy London/Washington are in shock and awe of which is why they blame Bin Laden for 9/11. Two Iraqi lawmakers were among those interviewed and a senior Iraqi military officer. Their names were not given but the lawmakers are part of the al-Sadr movement and they helped create the Madhi Army in 2003. The military officer has access to highly classified intelligence material that outlines in detail the active involvement of Hezbollah’s training Shia militias, what Washington has called the “Special Groups,” extensions of the Mahdi Army. Hezbollah’s involvement began in the second half of 2006 right after its month long war with Israel a war which enhanced Hezbollah’s prestige throughout the entire region. Two camps, Deir and Kutaiban, were used located in remote parts of southern Iraq east of Basra. Fighters were trained in the use of explosives, ambushes and rockets-mortars. But when the area was attacked by U. S.-Iraqi units in March-April this year the Hezbollah instructors were sent to Iran where they are now using camps Tehran used to train Iraqi exiles during the 1980s Iran/Iraq war.
Captured Shia fighters have said the Hezbollah instructors never numbered more than ten and they kept a low profile as the move back and forth across Iran’s border. Officials interviewed stated Tehran-Hezbollah have been taking advantage of the anti-American views of the Arab population which has increased since the occupation, an occupation that is one of Tehran’s greatest sources of political ammunition which is why I have sometimes written London/Washington have been pursuing a burning bridges foreign policy. Lebanese newspaper editor, Ibrahim al-Ameen, who is close to Hezbollah, said the militia’s leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah spends several hours a day on “the situation in Iraq.” Tehran is using the Shia militia to take the fighting in Iraq to a new level of intensity.
Al Garma – In another telling indication as to how tenuous stability is in the country France24 reports Sunni tribal leaders in Al Anbar province, bordering Syria, no longer believe the statements and assurances from Washington or the Baghdad government on the improvement in the security situation. Last Thursday a man dressed in an Iraqi military uniform walked into the town hall of Al Garma and detonated a bomb which not only killed him but also twenty tribal chiefs who had been allied with the U. S. The tribal chiefs are now openly questioning the U. S. strategy and the transfer of Al Anbar province to the Iraq Army has been suspended. [FRANCE24]
Srinagar – WebIndia123 reports normal life has begun to return in Srinagar, Kashmir as the Muslim community celebrated the state government revoking the decision to grant land to the Hindu shrine. Shops and markets were open as vehicular traffic returned along with inter-district bus services. Banks and government offices also resumed operations but in the south of the state, in Jammu, agitations continued as Hindus violently demonstrated against the state government’s decision in the Muslims favor. Jammu remained under curfew for a second day and the Jammu-Poonch and Jammu-Srinagar highways remained blocked by demonstrators. The protests are being led by the Hindu nationalists parties BJP-Shiv Sena. [WEBINDIA123]
Roshni Post – But as normal life was returning to parts of Kashmir there was a normal infiltration attempt into the state by Islamic militants. NewsBlaze Kashmir news agent Fayaz Wani reports it was one of the larger attempts that has resulted so far in the deaths of eleven Islamic militants who penetrated near Roshni Post. This action is right on the Line of Control, the demarcation that separates Pakistan’s part of Kashmir from India’s and the action is ongoing. The infiltration actually began yesterday as more Indian troops have been rushed to the area believing there are more militants trapped. Indian intelligence officials estimate there are 1,500 militants waiting at bases in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir to be ordered into action. They are part of the vanguard of President General Pervez Musharraf’s offensive Action Plan which he presented to Tehran in Feb. 2007. An Indian military source once informed me the best time for full scale war on the sub-continent is in September with the end of the monsoon.
