Hizbullah / Hezbollah (just the group)

[SWJED]

1 September Washington Times - Palestinians Aim to Learn from Hezbollah by Joshua Mitnick.

Gunmen from the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant Palestinian group known for its suicide attacks on Israel, say they envy Hezbollah even as they despair of their own inability to defeat Israeli forces.

"Even though we feel our capabilities are depleted, any chance at striking back we'll take. We have men that will eat stones," said Abu Ameed, who used a nickname for fear of arrest by the Israeli military.

"And if our generation feels a little demoralized, the next generations will not stop."

Mr. Ameed was part of a group of gunmen who spoke with a reporter in a grungy courtyard parking lot in Ramallah. Their disappointment was obvious. The Israeli military can reach them at will, and leaders of their own Fatah party want them to lay down their weapons.

But after Hezbollah held firm against an Israeli invasion for 34 days until an Aug. 14 cease-fire, the Palestinian gunmen say they have hope.

Israeli officials and analysts have expressed concern that Palestinian militants will try to replicate Hezbollah's tactics and "Lebanonize" areas such as the Gaza Strip by smuggling advanced weapons and building bunkers.

The militants, who wore black shirts, said they are trying to learn the lessons of Hezbollah's success, which they attributed partly to the militia's cohesion and discipline...

[jonSlack]

Jerusalem Post - Exclusive: Hizbullah paying terrorists for Kassam attacks

According to the officials, while Islamic Jihad was behind most recent rocket attacks - including the one on Tuesday night that critically wounded 14-year-old Adir Basad in Sderot - several splinter terrorists groups are also involved and have received direct funding from Hizbullah.
According to security officials, Islamic Jihad gets the money via its headquarters in Damascus while Fatah's Tanzim terror group and the Popular Resistance Committees receive payment from Hizbullah in Lebanon.

All of the money originated in Iran, the officials said.

Government officials said Hamas was not currently involved in firing missiles, but was doing nothing to stop those who were.

[Strickland]

I am not sure why this is either shocking or seen as being somehow under-handed or nefarious? Didnt we pay the Contras to attack the legitimate government of Nicaragua? Didnt we pay the Hmong to act as a counterinsurgent force? Didnt we pay the ISI / Afghan Mujahideen to fight the Soviets? Wasnt the IRA primarily funded by misguided souls in Boston and New York City?

[Bowman]

What I find interesting is that apparently Hezbollah has to pay someone to do their deed ! How much of this mercenary business is going on when we are told that ideology drives the attacks ? Very interesting and worth looking further .

[Bill Moore]

The Hezbollah have proven they understand how to implement 4GW strategy effectively. These are guesses, but they are attempting to garner more political power in Lebanon, so they are probably holding their military arm in reserve, and keeping a clean overt appearance, yet covertly they are keeping the pressure on Israel by channeling money to various individuals and groups to conduct harassment attacks against Israel. To what purpose? This creates a wide array of targets for Israel, which means there are few if any identifiable targets that can be "effectively" neutralized. They may be able to find and kill the shooter, but there are hundreds of shooters waiting to step up to the plate. The Israeli government obviously feels compelled to take action, so this could be an attempt to lure Israel into conducting an attack, which will be seen by many as unprovoked, so again Hezbollah wins on the IO stage. Speculation, but don't underestimate them.

[Jedburgh]

In Their Own Words: Hizbollah’s Strategy in the Current Confrontation

...The ideas expressed in the lengthy interviews, which we summarize below, are vitriolic. In deciding what material to use and what to leave out, we picked neither the most inflammatory nor the least controversial. Rather, we picked the ideas that were expressed repeatedly. We present those ideas without commentary, even when the language is extreme and accuracy questionable. We believe the raw material of the interviews will be helpful to readers seeking to understand the current crisis in Lebanon as well as the potential long-term ramifications of the crisis.

This presentation of Hizbollah’s ideas is based on six interviews conducted in Beirut by Amal Saad-Ghorayeb. The officials interviewed between November 1 and December 10, 2006 were: Sheikh Na’im Qasim, Hizbollah’s Deputy Secretary General; Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, the Commander of the Resistance in the South; Seyyid Nawaf al-Mousawi, the head of Hizbollah’s Foreign Relations Unit; Hussein Khalil, Seyyid Hassan Nasrallah’s Personal Political Assistant and member of the party’s Shura-Council; Ali Fayyad, head of Hizbollah’s think tank and member of Hizbollah’s Politburo; and Ghaleb Abou Zeynab, member of Hizbollah’s Politburo....