Hizbullah split as U.S. works for Syian cooperation
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, November 1, 2001
NICOSIA Ñ A split appears to have developed within the
Iranian-backed Hizbullah
movement amid concern that the regime of President Bashar Assad is
cooperating with Washington in the U.S.-led war against terrorism.
The split pits Hizbullah supporters of Syria against those of Iran and
comes in wake of the Sept. 11 Islamic suicide attacks on New York and
Washington. The debate focuses on whether Hizbullah should suspend attacks
against Israel to avoid U.S. retaliation.
Sources said Syria has served as a conduit for U.S. appeals to
Hizbullah to cooperate with the war on terrorism. The U.S. message urged the
Iranian-sponsored movement to cooperate against the Afghan ruling Taliban
movement and convert from an insurgency movement into a
Lebanese political party.
Hizbullah turned down the U.S. proposal, the sources said. The Hizbullah
rejection was ordered by Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
So far, a senior Hizbullah official in southern Lebanon aligned with
Syria has resigned amid the division within the movement. The circumstances
of his resignation were not disclosed.
Arab diplomatic sources said some members of the organization have urged
Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah to lower the profile of the
movement. Critics said Hizbullah's strategy of confronting Israel has
come to a dead end and leaves the organization open to massive Israeli or
U.S. retaliation. They cite an Israeli announcement that three soldiers
abducted by Hizbullah last year are dead, a development that has, in effect,
dashed an effort by the movement to bargain for a prisoner exchange with the
Jewish state.
The result, one source said, is that Hizbullah leaders seek to abduct
other Israeli soldiers to maintain pressure on the Jewish state.
A key concern in Hizbullah is that Syria might provide information on
Imad Mughniyeh, regarded as the most dangerous Islamic insurgent fugitive
after Osama Bin Laden. Mughniyeh has been cited in several major attacks
against
U.S. and Israeli targets over the last 20 years and has gone into hiding.
In a separate development, Israeli attack helicopters killed two Hamas
militants near the West Bank city of Tulkarm on Thursday. Israeli military
sources said the two were part of a squad that was driving toward Israel to
bomb a civilian installation. A third Hamas member was abducted by Israeli
commandos near the West Bank city of Nablus.
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