Hezballah in new paranoia offensive

Guardian:

Washington is waging a covert war against Hizbullah, according to the militant group, which accuses the US administration of arming anti-Hizbullah militias and seeking to undermine the Lebanese army in moves which could plunge the country back into civil war.

"Dick Cheney [US vice president] has given orders for a covert war against Hizbullah...there is now an American programme that is using Lebanon to further its goals in the region," Sheikh Naim Qasim, Hizbullah's deputy secretary general, told the Guardian in an interview in a safe house deep in Beirut's Hizbullah-controlled southern suburbs.

The accusation follows reports in the US and British media that the CIA has been authorised to take covert action against the militant Shia group, which receives substantial military backing from Iran, as part of wider strategy by the Bush administration to prevent the spread of Iranian influence in the region.

According to the reports, US intelligence agencies are authorised to provide "non-lethal" funding to anti-Hizbullah groups in Lebanon and to activists who support the western-backed government of Fouad Siniora.

But Hizbullah accused the Lebanese government of arming groups across the country. "This happens with the knowledge of the prime minister and is facilitated by the security forces under his command," said Sheikh Qasim.

The Bush administration recently set aside $60m (£30m) to fund the interior ministry's internal security force, which has almost doubled in size to 24,000 troops. Sheikh Qasim said there was a growing anti-Hizbullah bias in the security services. "The internal security forces have not succeeded in playing a balanced role... The sectarian issue is very delicate when it comes to the security services."

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The world would be a better place if Hezballah were destroyed. They are unseemly religious bigots with genocidal ambitions. Hopefully, we are assisting those who want to stop their ambitions. The Vice President is a mart man and he probably would like to see them stopped too, but a presidential finding would have to be signed by the President.

I think it is likely that since Hezballah acts as a proxy force for Iran, it would not be surprising that our attempts to control Iran would include her proxies. After all, Iran has already threatened to unleash them if we try to stop their nuke program. You might say they invited the attention.