Al-Qaeda and Hezbollah look to make
up By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Hezbollah has emerged as the new
champion of the jihadist world, eclipsing even
al-Qaeda as it battled the might of the
US-backed-and-supplied Israel Defense Forces.
Shi'ite Hezbollah's newfound international
popularity is likely in turn to encourage closer
ties between it and Salafi-dominated al-Qaeda,
which had fallen in Hezbollah's esteem for its
targeting of
Shi'ites in Iraq.
An
Iranian intelligence official explained to Asia
Times Online, "There have been some contacts
between Hezbollah and al-Qaeda in the past, but
those contacts were at the individual level. The
two organizations never spoke to each other
officially. Neither did they exchange any official
delegations.
"However, nobody can deny
that individuals of both organizations carried out
operations jointly. And as the situation is
emerging, there are chances that any time soon the
two organizations will be compelled to interact
officially."
This is confirmed by a
Pakistani intelligence source who is part of an
international intelligence cartel investigating
regional arms markets.
He told Asia Times
Online, "There are so many common interests
between the two organizations that it is
impossible that bitterness about Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi's role against Shi'ites [in Iraq] will
continue to be an irritant between Hezbollah and
al-Qaeda.
"There is a big arms black
market in Central Asia, and Iraqi Kurdistan is the
main route [through which] goods are smuggled into
Afghanistan and into Syria and then Lebanon. Both
Hezbollah and al-Qaeda have been dealing in the
same markets, and many times with the same
dealers.
"However, this is not the only
thing. The channels of money transfers are the
same. International financial investigators have
tracked al-Qaeda's financial arteries from South
Africa through diamond traders. All these diamond
traders come from Nabatiyeh [southern Lebanon] -
they are Shi'ites and indirectly linked with
Hezbollah," the intelligence officer said.
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has in the
past made extensive capital out of the plight of
south Lebanon, pinning much of his anti-American
rhetoric on US-backed Israeli actions there.
A Hezbollah fighter who called himself
Nidal told this correspondent recently in the
Baalbek region of south Lebanon, "Osama always
referred to the Israeli bombing of a UN building
in Qana in the mid-1990s. He called the incident
his inspiration for his hatred against the US, as
the Americans backed the Israeli attack. So we
were surprised when Osama was tight-lipped when
the Taliban killed Shi'ites [of the Hazara sect]
in Afghanistan, and then Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
declared war on Shi'ites in Iraq."
Nidal
was referring to the Qana incident of 1996 in
which Lebanese women and children were killed and
bin Laden used the incident to justify calls to
take revenge against the "Zionist-American
alliance".
British journalist Robert Fisk
recalled in an article in 2002, "When I last saw
bin Laden, he was still obsessed with the Israeli
massacre of 107 Lebanese refugees sheltering at
the UN camp at Qana in April 1996. Israel claimed
it was a 'mistake', the UN conceded otherwise and
president [Bill] Clinton called it only a
'tragedy' - as if it was a natural disaster. 'It
was,' said bin Laden, an act of 'international
terrorism'. 'There must be justice,' he said, and
'trials for the Israeli perpetrators.'"
While the perception on the streets of
Lebanon and Syria might be that al-Qaeda, the
flag-bearer of anti-Americanism, is anti-Shi'ite,
this has never been the case.
Al-Qaeda has
always wanted to cooperate with organizations such
as Hezbollah, but its efforts at extending its
international reach were curtailed after it lost
its sanctuary in Afghanistan in 2001 and its
leaders, including bin Laden and his deputy, Dr
Ayman al-Zawahiri, were forced to lie low in the
border areas with Pakistan. In effect, they were
cut off from the rest of the world, as well as
from their organization.
Then came the
Pakistani military operations in the tribal areas
of South and North Waziristan from 2003 to 2005 to
root out al-Qaeda fugitives. This gave rise to the
takfiri faction in al-Qaeda, which took
advantage of the leadership and ideological vacuum
to make its mark.
Sheikh Essa is an
example. He is an Egyptian and longtime
takfiri (one of those who believe all
non-practicing Muslims are infidels). Though he is
respected for his convictions and his knowledge on
religion, he had had nothing to do with al-Qaeda's
tactical affairs.
He seized the
initiative, and along with Mustafa Seth Marium
al-Suri began to to propagate his takfiri
ideas against Shi'ites. They found a soulmate in
Zarqawi, who like them had never been a part of
the al-Qaeda command. Zarqawi took charge of
affairs in Iraq and began to foment civil war by
attacking Shi'ites.
Once the military
operations in Waziristan eased and bin Laden and
Zawahiri were able to reconnect with their men
throughout the world, they moved quickly to rein
in Zarqawi and try to re-establish harmony among
Shi'ites and Sunnis in Iraq to fight against the
Americans. Zarqawi's killing at the hands of US
forces in June was therefore a blessing in
disguise for bin Laden, although sectarian strife
might already have reached the point of no return.
With regard to Hezbollah, though, it is
certainly not too late for al-Qaeda to mend fences
and improve ties, given their similar illicit arms
and financial needs, as well as the perfect public
relations that US-backed efforts in south Lebanon
give bin Laden and the al-Qaeda propaganda
machine.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is
Asia Times Online's Pakistan Bureau Chief. He can
be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
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