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Hizbullah split as U.S. works for Syian cooperation

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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