BY MICHAEL EVANS - THE al-Qaeda terrorist organisation is trying to transfer its base of operations from Afghanistan to Lebanon, according to intelligence uncovered earlier this month.
A senior operative of Osama bin Laden’s network, a Yemeni national who has the alias of Salah Hajir, is believed to have arrived in Lebanon about two weeks ago and has held meetings in Beirut with leaders of the Hezbollah terrorist group.
Hezbollah is known to be funded and sponsored by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Iranian Government is in the spotlight after President Bush’s State of the Union address on future threats to the United States which highlighted an “evil axis” of Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
On Wednesday Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, said: “We know Iran is actively sending terrorists down through Damascus into the Bekaa Valley where they train terrorists, then engage in acts against countries in the region and elsewhere.”
Although British diplomatic sources said that Hezbollah, a Shia Muslim organisation, and al-Qaeda, which is Sunni Muslim, were “unlikely bedfellows”, there is substantial evidence of a working alliance between the two groups dating back to the early 1990s.
Bin Laden is believed to have met a senior member of Hezbollah at that time. Reports also indicated that Hezbollah provided al-Qaeda with explosives and training.
Intelligence of the arrival of the senior bin Laden associate in Lebanon and the meetings with Hezbollah leaders may provide the first indication that al-Qaeda is seeking an accommodation with the Iranian-backed terror group.
There have also been reports that since arriving in Lebanon — which is home to 30,000 Syrian troops and under the effective control of President Assad of Syria — Salah Hajir has met a radical Sunni Islamic organisation called Usbat al-Ansar which has close ties with al-Qaeda and is based in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp in Sidon.
A number of Usbat al-Ansar operatives are believed to have returned to Lebanon a month ago after fighting alongside al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan.
After the fall of the Taleban and the destruction of much of the al-Qaeda infrastructure, including all their training camps, there has been speculation that bin Laden’s organisation might try to transfer its headquarters to another country.
Somalia was top of the list, and a close watch has been kept on all shipping out of Pakistan to prevent al-Qaeda members escaping by sea in vessels bound for Somalia and other potential harbouring countries.
Since September 11 the CIA and FBI have been investigating links between al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, including Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group, Harkat-ul-Mujahidin based in Pakistan, and Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines.
The last time Hezbollah attacked Americans was in 1983 when 241 US servicemen were killed in a suicide bombing in Beirut.
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