It has been no secret that the Lebanon-based terrorist organization Hezbollah, which is financed, armed and ideologically motivated largely by Iran, supports Palestinian terrorists. Now, however, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah has for the first time publicly admitted this fact (bbc News, July 26). Recent media reports have also provided insight into the extent of Iran’s involvement.
Ghaleb Awali, a senior official of Hezbollah and reportedly a key link between that organization and Palestinian terrorist organizations, was killed in a bomb blast on July 19. In a eulogy for Awali at which he accused Israel of being responsible for the assassination, Nasrallah described how Awali had been assisting the Palestinians in their fight against the “Zionist enemy” (Jerusalem Post, July 20).
London’s Sunday Times reported that Awali had belonged to a secret section of Hezbollah called Inside Operations, which works specifically with the Palestinians. “The importance of the section and Awali’s role in it were revealed at his funeral …” (July 25).
Awali was responsible for financing and training Palestinian terrorists. debkafile reported that he had begun his job as “operations coordinator” between Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist organizations in 1996—“in practice, this made him also contact man between Tehran and the Palestinian leadership headed by Yasser Arafat” (July 26). The Times reported that immediately prior to his death he had taken a trip to Iran where he received money and instructions to continue his job of liaising with the Palestinians (op. cit.).
The Times described Nasrallah’s admission of Hezbollah’s role in supporting the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza as “bad news” for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (ibid.). “Awali’s clandestine function exploded the myth that global Islamic terror and Palestinian terror are separate conflicts” (debkafile, op. cit.).
Despite Awali’s death, a large network connecting Iran with Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorists remains. For example, the man who was Awali’s boss, Imad Mughniyeh, connects Iranian security services not only with Hezbollah but also al Qaeda (Stratfor, April 2, 2002). Mughniyeh is still on the fbi’s 22-most-wanted list of terrorists, accused of the 1983 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut among other terrorist attacks. debkafile describes Mughniyeh as “the key link” between Iran, Hezbollah and al Qaeda, “maintaining regular, close ties with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri [al Qaeda’s deputy leader]” (op. cit.).
What’s more, debkafile reports that Israel’s intelligence sources have reason to believe that Hezbollah’s “Iranian masters and Syrian backers” are now looking to the use of non-conventional weapons (ibid.). In a cabinet meeting in July, Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash reported that Syria is testing chemical warheads for medium-range missiles such as those Hezbollah has along Lebanon’s border with Israel (bbc News, op. cit.). These warheads are made in Syria with financing from Iran. “Fitting them on Hezbollah’s missiles, which are guarded by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, would provide Iran with a menacing presence on the shores of the Mediterranean …” (debkafile, op. cit.). debkafile said its Tehran sources revealed that Iran’s Islamic regime “sees Hezbollah passing short-range missiles with Syrian chemical payloads to … Palestinian terrorists, so that by the time Iran has its first nuclear bomb ready to go in about two years, unconventional weapons will be pointed at the Jewish state from two external directions, Tehran and Lebanon …” (ibid.).
As editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in our November 2003 edition, “The real power behind the Palestinians is Iran. No other nation would dare finance and blatantly encourage such terrorism in Israel.” Once again, Iran is shown to be the head of the terrorist snake.