Hezbollah: Encyclopedia II - Hezbollah - Foreign relations

Hezbollah - Foreign relations

Hezbollah claims that it forbids its fighters entry into Iraq for any reason, and that no Hezbollah units or individual fighters have entered Iraq to support any Iraqi faction fighting America. However, on April 2, 2004, Muqtada al-Sadr announced his intention to form chapters of Hezbollah and Hamas in Iraq [47]. He is not known to have consulted Hezbollah or Hamas before making this statement.

Hezbollah has been accused of having links to Al-Qaida. Though Hezbollah has a Shi'ite ideology, this does not exclude it from co-operation with Sunni groups. Since September 11, 2001 Hezbollah's alleged links with al-Qaeda came under more scrutiny. American intelligence officials have stated they believe there has been contact between Hezbollah and low-level al-Qaeda figures that fled Afghanistan for Lebanon. [48] Furthermore leading international Hezbollah militant Imad Mugniyah is said to be working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq. [49] Many have suggested a broader alliance between Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. [50] [51]Such claims are doubted since Al-Qaeda's Wahhabist ideology considers Shiia Muslims infidels, which it has demonstrated in suicide bombings and attacks on Shiia targets in Iraq. Hezbollah has publicly denied having any ties with al-Qaeda. [52]

In 2004 the Dutch internal security agency AIVD, concluded:

It is widely believed that Hafez al-Assad and Hezbollah were closely linked; this did not significantly affect his relations with the rest of the world. Bashar al-Assad, his son and successor, has been subjected to sanctions by the U.S. due to (among other things, such as occupying Lebanon) his continued support for Hezbollah, which it views as a terrorist organization. However, on March 3, 2005, the Bush administration stated that it would consider Hezbollah legitimate if it disarmed, but also said that this did not represent a change in their view of the organization, which is unlikely to do so.

Those who consider Hezbollah to be a terrorist organization consider its sponsors (in particular Iran, Syria, and Lebanon) to stand in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions 1373 and 1566. Further, UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calls for the dismantling of Hezbollah and all other militias. Israel has lodged continuous complaints[54] about Hezbollah's actions. Israel has bombed several Syrian targets in retaliation for terrorist and guerrilla attacks by Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah that Israel claims were sponsored by Syria. An Israeli official said that those attacks are a "message to Syria to stop sponsoring terrorism".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Foreign relations", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki