Hizbullah / Hezbollah (just the group)

[ganulv]

My story about playing football with the MINUGUA guys in Guatemala suddenly seems far less interesting to me.

[davidbfpo]

More of an update; a paper from an Israeli think tank and the closing judgement in the opening summary:

In our assessment, Safavi's remark about Nasrallah's being a soldier of Khamenei was a threat against Israel. Its subtext read that Hassan Nasrallah could not have independent considerations when it came to strategic issues of Iran's national security, and that Hezbollah's large arsenal of rockets (60k) would, when necessary, be used according to a decision made by Iran. Such a decision could be made, for example, to respond to an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

Link:http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/en/article/20351

[davidbfpo]

Aware of a SWJ Blog piece I came across this on FP Blog:

ProPublica has reviewed a string of plots attributed to the Shiite alliance, 10 cases in the past year alone, and found a complex and contradictory evolution of the threat. Iran and Hezbollah have waged a determined campaign to strike their enemies in retaliation for attacks on the Iranian nuclear program and the killing of a Hezbollah chief, counterterror officials say. The offensive led by the Quds Force, Iran's elite foreign operations unit, has displayed impressive reach and devastating potential.

Link:http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...reat?page=full

SWJ Blog:http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/gra...bollah-hedging

[davidbfpo]

Nigel Inkster from IISS adds a commentary on the issues:http://iissvoicesblog.wordpress.com/...llah-and-iran/

We often overlook unintended consequences and anniversaries, so this is reminder:

What principally reactivated Hizbullah’s engagement in transnational terrorism was the assassination in Damascus, of one of its military leaders, Imad Mugniyeh, on 12 February 2008. Mugniyeh had been responsible for many of Hizbullah’s most prominent attacks, including the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, and an attack two years later on a Jewish centre in the same city.

.....It is noteworthy that several recent attacks attributed to Hizbullah since then including have coincided with the anniversary of Mugniyeh’s death, or the anniversary of the major attacks he masterminded.