Iran to host terror summit in April
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Friday, February 16, 2001
WASHINGTON Ñ The United States has confirmed that leading terrorist
groups met recently in Beirut. Diplomatic sources say Iran will host a followup meeting in April.
U.S. officials said the meeting took place around Jan. 24 in Beirut and
included leading terrorist agents Ñ such as the Hizbullah Ñ sponsored by Iran.
At the meeting, the terrorist groups and Iranian officials discussed cooperation in the launching of attacks against
Israeli and U.S. targets, the officials said.
Iran is planning another terrorism conference to be held in Teheran, tentatively on April 24, Middle East Newsline reported.
Iran is regarded as the main financial supporter of the Palestinian
Islamic opposition and Hizbullah. Arab diplomatic sources said Iran provides Lebanese and
Palestinian allies about $100 million a year.
The April conference is expected to include representatives from the
Lebanese Hizbullah and the Damascus-based Hamas and Islamic Jihad
Palestinian groups. The Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine-General Command is also expected to attend.
The sources said invitations have already been sent by Iran.
The organizer of the conference is Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Mohtashemi-Pur, an
Iranian parliamentarian and secretary-general of the International
Conference on Palestine.
Mohtashemi-Pur toured the Middle East earlier this month and met with
envoys of Palestinian groups and Hizbullah. A former Iranian ambassador to
Syria, Mohtashemi-Pur is regarded as the architect of the Iranian
sponsorship of Hizbullah in the 1980s.
In a related development, a leading Egyptian fugitive, Rifai Ahmed Taha,
a senior member of the outlawed Gamiat Islamiya, has called for Islamic
attacks on American Jews. In a fatwa, or religious ruling, Taha called on
Muslims to "kill American Jews wherever they can be found."
Referring to the Beirut meeting, State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said: "We believe the participants included Hizbullah and Palestinian
rejectionist groups, but we have no
information on other participants."
But officials appeared to rule out that Lebanon would be termed as a
nation that sponsors terrorism by allowing the terrorist to convene. They
said such a move would hurt current U.S. efforts to ensure quiet along the
Israeli-Lebanese border.
Boucher suggested, however, that State Department would include the
meeting in its annual report on terrorism. He said the issue of terrorism in
Lebanon is a "complicated issue."
"We have bilateral cooperation with Lebanon," Boucher said. "We work
with Lebanon on the issue of terrorism. We all know that there are groups
that continue to operate in this area, but as for our assessment of the
situation, I think I'll invite you to wait until the terrorism report comes
out."
Friday, February 16, 2001
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