Regardless of the debate in the U.S.

over the nature of the Iranian threat, Tehran

is employing surrogate forces like Hizbullah against the U.S.-led Coalition forces
in Iraq. On Aug. 27, Coalition forces captured a senior leader of the Iranian-
backed Special Groups in Iraq who travels frequently to Iran and Lebanon. What
emerges from the following analysis is that Iranian-backed Hizbullah is not just a
Lebanese issue but is part of the larger problem of global terrorism.

Hizbullah’s Role in Attacks Against U.S. and British Forces in Iraq

By Jonathan Dahoah Halevi

* Asharq Alawsat reported on August 18, 2008, that Hizbullah operatives were
involved in attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces in four Iraqi provinces. In June
2006, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield disclosed that
Hizbullah cadres had attacked U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq. Hizbullah units
claimed responsibility for operations against coalition forces and Iraqi security
personnel as early as the latter part of 2005.

* A senior U.S. intelligence officer said that the activists of the “Special
Groups” (Shiite terror cells in Iraq) undergo training and military instruction
administered by the Iranian Revolution Guards’ Qods Force and Lebanese Hizbullah
at training camps in the cities of Qom, Tehran, Ahwaz, and Mashad.

* The official website of the Hizbullah Brigades in Iraq features scores of video
clips depicting the setting off of a number of sabotage charges in one place, the
use of two explosive charges in succession in order to harm the rescue forces as
well, the use of mortars mounted on trucks in order to make a quick getaway, and
the launching a shoulder-fired Strela missile against helicopters.

* Hizbullah’s deep involvement in terror throughout Iraq demonstrates that the

organization does not view itself purely as a Lebanese factor with national and
local objectives, but as an arm of Iran in spreading the Shiite Islamic Revolution
throughout the Middle East (the Shiite crescent) and in the long term throughout
the entire world.

* The distinction between the military wing of Hizbullah and the political or
social wing is an artificial distinction that is fundamentally flawed. Hizbullah
views all wings of its organization as parts of a single body that are intended to
achieve the identical strategic goal of spreading Islam and waging constant war
against the apostates until their defeat.

• Western aid funds help reinforce the Hizbullah infrastructure in Lebanon that
is attempting to take over the country. Hizbullah’s Jihad al-Bina (Jihad for
development) construction company is in contact with European bodies and it
receives funding, inter alia, from Lebanese municipalities that are supported by
the West.