Hezbollah

Iranian and Hezbollah Influence Growing in Latin America

It is no secret the Iranians are trying to export their own brand of influence across the Middle East. They are supporting the Assad regime in Syria during the bloody civil war there are trying to establish bases near the border with Israel. Tehran and their proxy terrorist group Hezbollah are preparing for their next foray against the Israelis and they’ve been rattling their sabers openly about it.

In a report on SOFREP from Travis Allen on July 14, Hezbollah launched 4000 rockets into Israel in the 2006 war. Now after being bled dry in the Syrian civil war, they’re ready for the next battle. The Iranians have built underground bunkers for Hezbollah rocket factories and they’re threatening one of the US’ staunchest allies in the region. But this isn’t the only place the Iranians are peddling their influence. And it is much closer to the US border in Latin America.

Since the 1980s the Iranians have been steadily building their presence in Latin America from just a handful to 12 diplomatic missions in the region. In 1992 at the Israeli Embassy and again in 1994 at the Jewish Community Centers (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, clear evidence linked Iran and Hezbollah to the bombings of those facilities, yet they were allowed to grow with impunity. The bombing in Buenos Aires killed 89 and wounded 300 in what was the worst terrorist attack in Argentine history.

In testimony only months after the attacks, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism expressed concern that Iranian embassies in the region were flooding their missions with far too many “diplomats”, and it is believed that many of whom were believed to be intelligence agents and/or terrorist operatives.

In 2015 chief prosecutor Alberto Nissman who investigated the AMIA bombing died under suspicious circumstances. Nisman, the special prosecutor who had been investigating the AMIA bombing for over a decade, filed a complaint against then Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and some officials in her administration for covering up Iran’s involvement in the attack.

Four days later, Nisman was found with a bullet in his head. His testimony before the Argentine Congress about the alleged cover-up had been scheduled for the following day.

In a 2016 interview, Treasury Department and Hezbollah expert Matthew Levitt who also the Director of the Washington Institute of Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence stated that:

FBI, CIA, Interpol, and other documents about terrorist activity in Brazil, which warned that Mohsen Rabbani, an Iranian intelligence agent who worked closely with Hezbollah to carry out the 1992 Israeli Embassy and 1994 bombings in Buenos Aires, “frequently slips in and out of Brazil on a false passport and has recruited at least 24 youngsters in three Brazilian states to attend ‘religious formation’ classes in Tehran.” In the words of one Brazilian official quoted by the magazine, “Without anybody noticing, a generation of Islamic extremists is appearing in Brazil.” Hezbollah reportedly has expanded its criminal activities in Brazil as well to include shipping fraud, involving containers that enter Brazil at the port of Sao Paulo and disappear on their way up the river to the Tri-Border Area.

The Tri-Border Area is the lawless area of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina where drug trafficking and counterfeiting run rampant. The Hezbollah operatives are blending into the numerous Shia and Lebanese communities in the area.

Hezbollah thru the Iranians are heavily involved in the drug business and a 2011 DEA report stated that a ring that was broken up had laundered over $200 million thru the Lebanese Canadian Bank where monies were used to fund the Islamic Jihad Organization, which is Hezbollah’s terrorist wing.

However, since the bombings in Argentina, the Iranians and Hezbollah are keeping a low profile in Latin America, especially in the Tri-Border Region. Iran claims it is only trying to grow its trade with the region while leftist governments of Ecuador, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bolivia have vigorously welcomed Iran’s new influence in Latin America. Many of these countries are hostile to continuing US influence and have welcomed the Iranians in an attempt to thumb their nose at Washington. Especially in Venezuela prior to Chavez’s death and Bolivia.

The Spanish Language television station “HispanTV” has since 2012 carried the news from Tehran and its Islamist message to millions of viewers across the region. While conversion rates to Islam continue to be small, there is the concern that the message to entice some youth over to more radicalized views will ultimately occur.

Iran’s presence in Latin America developed over the course of four sequential stages:
Cultural – building of schools, mosques and “Cultural Centers”
Diplomatic – established diplomatic posts as a cover, solidified presence in the region
Economic – Illicit trade (drug smuggling, money laundering) to circumvent UN sanctions
Military – Money was used to help missile building programs and fund terrorism

And while Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif went on a six-nation tour and openly denigrated America, he espoused his beliefs that the US would go out of its way to encourage other nations to do business with Iran. He was correct. Then Secretary of State John Kerry visited Europe to encourage banks and companies to again do business with Iran. Outwardly under the Obama administration, the attempt was to downplay the growing Iranian presence in the region.

The new regime in Washington under President Trump will have to navigate the waters carefully. He was vehemently opposed to the Iran nuclear deal and his government could open the door for new sanctions against Tehran. The Colombian peace accord with FARC was a blow to Tehran as the leftist terror group was openly allied with Hezbollah. This peace pact besides disarming the rebel group may prevent further infiltration of Iranian influence in the area.

Trump’s inaugural address promised to eradicate radical Islamic terrorism “from the face of the earth.”

Perhaps a good place to start is close to home where Hezbollah has operated networks that have bought political influence among local powers, allied with organized crime, and has had financial dealings with both. The US has long advocated that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, and their proxies Hezbollah have certainly lived up to that distinction in the Middle East. Placing harsh financial sanctions on the banks and countries complicit in Hezbollah’s dealings is the only way to counter their efforts in the region.

Otherwise, the specter of more terrorism, this time closer to, if not in the United States is a distinct possibility.

Photo: Hezbollah

Syria Ceasefire Iran – Israel War “Inevitable” Former Netanyahu Adviser

Former Netanyahu security adviser Yaakov Amidror feels that the Syrian cease fire will result in an “inevitable war” between Israel and Iran. On a conference call with the media, he painted a gloomy picture which echoed what Netanyahu said earlier.

The Israeli leader doesn’t trust the Russians as they’ve supported embattled President Assad who is allied with Iran, and Israel’s hated enemy Hezbollah.

Iran is trying to build “an air base in Syria” and provide additional weaponry to terrorists in Lebanon in an apparent effort to threaten Israel from two directions, according to the Netanyahu ally. This fear has been brewing in U.S. and Israeli circles for years, but the Israelis think the terms of a nascent Syria ceasefire negotiated by the Trump administration, Russia and Jordan exacerbates the danger.
“Israel should take care for its strategic goal and this is to prevent the Iranians and Hezbollah from building launching pads in Syria,” Yaakov Amidror, who counseled Netanyahu from 2011 to 2013, told reporters on a conference call hosted by The Israel Project. “If [the Iranians] begin to build infrastructure which might be used against Israel in Syria and will connect this land corridor into Iraq and begin to move materials from this area into Syria, that will make the war inevitable.”
U.S. officials in both parties have raised the same concerns. “A permanent Iranian military base in Syria, potentially near the border with Israel or Jordan, would increase Iran’s operational capacity to inflict serious damage against two of our closest allies in the region,” Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., wrote in a May letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Netanyahu lobbied throughout the talks for Russia and the United States to keep Iran away from Israel’s border and said Russian forces ought not to be trusted to police the southern Syria safe zone. But Israeli officials say their position was ignored in the final agreement.
“The agreement as it is now is very bad,” an official told Haaretz. “It doesn’t take almost any of Israel’s security interests and it creates a disturbing reality in southern Syria. The agreement doesn’t include a single explicit word about Iran, Hezbollah or the Shi’ite militias in Syria.”
Russia and Iran have fought to protect Syrian President Bashar Assad for years, particularly after then-President Barack Obama declined to attack the Syrian regime in 2013 in response to Assad’s use of chemical weapons. Tillerson’s ceasefire negotiations may have been influenced by the Trump administration’s overall determination to limit U.S. military deployments to Syria.

With the Islamic State’s defeat in Syria, the civil war against Assad will continue. And many in the US and Israeli governments feel the only ones who will benefit from this cease fire is the Iranians.

Then the only questions remain whether Israel will stand by and let Iran build an airbase on their border. And what the results will be if they decide to take action.

To read the entire article from The Washington Examiner, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Hezbollah, Backed by Iran Looks to Expand Mid East Conflict to Israel

With the wars against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria driving the terrorist group from each country, the prospect of peace in the region is even less likely as a possible power vacuum in Syria is setting up Iran in a position of strength.

The government of Tehran has been propping up the government of Assad by lending support through their proxy, Hezbollah. Now, the Iranians will look to expand the Syrian civil war past the border and into Israel.

Eleven years ago this month, Israel went to war with Hezbollah, Iran’s Lebanon-based Shi’a proxy militia. The fighting began when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israeli villages and missiles at Israeli armored vehicles patrolling the border. Three Israeli soldiers were killed. Two were kidnapped and taken into Lebanon.
They would be among the more than a thousand people killed during the 34 days that followed. Hundreds of thousands, in both countries, would be displaced.
The passage of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 on August 11 marked a halt to the conflict. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was expanded and granted the authority to use force to ensure that southern Lebanon became free of “any armed personnel, assets and weapons” not under the direct control of the Lebanese government or UNIFIL.
It soon became apparent that UNIFIL would fail to accomplish that mission. Today, Hezbollah has an estimated 150,000 missiles of varying ranges and accuracy pointing at Israeli villages and cities — about 10 times what it had in 2006. UNIFIL sees nothing, knows nothing and, of course, does nothing.
There has been one restraint on Hezbollah’s rearmament: Israeli intelligence sometimes learns of Iranian shipments of advanced missiles. Airstrikes have destroyed at least some of these shipments en route.
Now, however, Iran has a new plan: Over recent months, its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been building fortified, underground missile production factories in Lebanon.
For the moment, the Israelis are giving diplomacy a chance, for example by briefing members of the U.N. Security Council, warming that the next war is bound to be more destructive and bloodier than the last.
Among the reasons: Hezbollah’s presence now extends well beyond southern Lebanon. It has taken control of Beirut’s port and airfields. It is the most powerful faction in Lebanon’s government. To fight Hezbollah while sparing Lebanon is no longer possible.
In addition, Hezbollah’s leaders have installed their missiles in (and under) homes, schools, hospitals and mosques. Their use of “human shields” ensures a high civilian death toll and, incidentally, blatantly violates international law. But they are confident that many journalists, U.N. officials and “human rights” groups will reflexively blame Israel, not them and certainly not Iran for the carnage.
Another indication that Hezbollah may be preparing for a new conflict: It has set up observation posts along the Israeli border, claiming these are part of an environmental effort called “Green Without Borders.”

With the Iranians pouring foreign Shia fighters into Syria, the stage is set. Tehran has never made its plan to annihilate Israel a secret. Now they are planning on beginning that plan and to spread its revolution to neighboring Bahrain and Kuwait as well. They have also been sending fighters into Afghanistan, trying to gain influence there as well.

The US and the Trump Administration has some very difficult decisions to make shortly.

To read the entire article from The Washington Times, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

With ISIS Defeat Looming in Syria, Iraq, US Strategy Has to Define Next Step

American-backed ground forces are poised to recapture Mosul in Iraq and Raqqah in Syria, the Islamic State’s de facto capitals. But while U.S. commanders are confident they soon will vanquish the militant group from its self-declared caliphate after three years of fighting, Washington has not defined a strategy in the next step for stabilizing the region.

The Trump administration faces key decisions about safe zones, reconstruction, governmental control in the area, easing sectarian tensions and commitment of U.S. troops among other considerations.

Nor has the Trump administration set policy for how it will confront forces from Iran and Russia, the two outside powers that arguably gained the most in the bitter conflict — and that now are hoping to collect the spoils and expand their influence.
Iran, in particular, is pushing to secure a land corridor from its western border across Iraq and Syria and up to Lebanon, where it supports Hezbollah militants, giving it a far larger foothold in the turbulent region.
“Right now everyone is positioned” for routing Islamic State “without having the rules of the road,” said Michael Yaffe, a former State Department envoy for the Middle East who is now vice president of the Middle East and Africa center at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “That’s a dangerous situation.”
The risk of a broader confrontation was clear in recent weeks when a U.S. F/A-18 shot down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time in the multi-sided six-year war, provoking an angry response from Russia, which supports Syrian President Bashar Assad.
U.S. warplanes also destroyed two Iranian-made drone aircraft, although it’s not clear who was flying them. The Pentagon said all the attacks were in self-defense as the aircraft approached or fired on American forces or U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.
“What I worry about is the muddled mess scenario,” said Ilan Goldenberg, a former senior State Department official who now heads the Middle East program at the nonpartisan Center for a New American Security. “When you start shooting down planes and running into each other, it quickly goes up the escalation ladder.”
U.S. commanders say thousands of American troops should stay in Iraq to bolster the Iraqi army, which collapsed and fled when the militants first arrived on pickup trucks in 2014, three years after President Obama withdrew most U.S. troops from the country.
A tougher challenge lies in Syria, where the U.S. military has not been invited by the government and has no large fixed bases. The Pentagon has deployed hundreds of special operations forces and conventional troops to support the Syrian Democratic Forces, a coalition of Kurdish and Arab rebel groups that oppose Assad.
If the U.S. military pulls out, it could give a green light to Assad and Iran’s forces to turn their firepower on the U.S.-backed militias, potentially a nightmare scenario.
Pressure is growing on Capitol Hill for the White House to articulate a longer-term strategy for when the Islamic State threat has been neutralized.

Routing the Islamic State out of those countries is the first step but there are other concerns once that is accomplished. Hezbollah which has sided with Assad’s forces in the civil war is emboldened now and is pushing to escalate the war by attacking Israel. There will be no easy answers for Washington as peace and stability in the region will be very hard to come by.

To read the entire article from The Los Angeles Times click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

“Israeli Missile Strike” Hits Damascus Airport in Syria

The Syrian city of Damascus was hit by missile strikes at dawn on Thursday morning and according to the official news source SANA, warehouses and a fuel tank were damaged. The Israelis reported conducted the missile attack at the Damascus airport.

But according to Syrian rebel forces, the missiles struck an arms depot used by Hezbollah. Hezbollah and its main source of support, Iran, are backing the government forces of Assad and are considered by Israel to be their worst enemy.

The Israelis issued a statement in which the said that the explosion was “consistent” with its policy to prevent Iran smuggling weapons to Hezbollah. But their statement stopped short of claiming responsibility for the strikes.

The Israelis according to Haaretz said ‘Hours before the blasts, which took place at 3:25 A.M., two Iranian 747 cargo planes, an Iranian Ilyushin il-76 and a Syrian Ilyushin il-76 landed in Damascus, according to the flight radar tracking site Flightradar24.com. The flights were both military and commercial, all taking off from Tehran, Iran.’

Two senior rebel sources based in Damascus told Reuters news agency that the missiles had hit an ammunition depot in a closed military area that was used by Iran-backed militias operating alongside the Syrian army, led by Hezbollah.
Appearing to confirm Israeli involvement, Intelligence Minister Israel Katz told Israeli Army Radio: “I can confirm that the incident in Syria corresponds completely with Israel’s policy to act to prevent Iran’s smuggling of advanced weapons via Syria to Hezbollah in Iran. Naturally, I don’t want to elaborate on this.”
“The prime minister has said that whenever we receive intelligence that indicated an intention to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah, we will act.”
The Israeli military declined to comment on the reports.

With the Russians reportedly strengthening the Syrian air defenses after the US cruise missile strike earlier this month, there were questions on how Israel would act. The Israelis hit Hezbollah targets since the civil war began.

An earlier attack this month destroyed 100 missiles destined for Hezbollah. But the Syrians launched missiles at Israel earlier this month as well. One of them was intercepted by Israeli missile defense systems.

The Israeli’s and Benjamin Netanyahu have made it clear that they’ll continue to hit any Hezbollah targets as they see fit.

To read the entire article from BBC click here:

Photo courtesy AFP