Report: Hizbullah training Shiite militia in Iraq
Senior US intelligence official tells New York Times Shiite organization has been training Shiite Mahdi Army in Iraq; implicates Iran, Syria in facilitating group's activities
Hizbullah – also in Iraq? The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Hizbullah has been training the Mahdi Army in Iraq, a militia led by Shiite leader Moktada al-Sadr.
A senior intelligence official told the newspaper that between 1,000 to 2,000 Mahdi fighters were trained in Lebanon by Hizbullah operatives.
The newspaper said that Hizbullah operatives visited Iraq on several occasions to assist the Mahdi Army.
The source said Iran facilitated Hizbullah's rapprochement to the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias in Iraq. Syrian officials are also believed to have cooperated, although it remains unclear whether senior regime officials approved the move.
The United States has been pondering over the possibility of opening channels with Iran and Syria, who are believed to hold the keys to reducing violence in Iraq.
A bipartisan committee called by the Iraq Study Group and headed by former secretary of state James A. Baker and former democratic politician Lee Hamilton is set to recommend that Washington engages in direct talks with Iran and Syria.
The intelligence source said interrogations of captured Iraqi insurgents by the US military exposed Hizbullah's involvement in Iraq.
The Times said that the latest account is consistent with previous claims made by a mid-level Mahdi commander that his group had sent 300 fighters to train with Hizbullah.
“They are the best-trained fighters in the Mahdi Army,” he said.
Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, told Congress this month that “the Iranian hand is stoking violence” in Iraq.
