Hizbullah leaders, Syria and
Iran, like to portray Hizbullah as a liberation or “resistance” movement
fighting Israeli occupation in South Lebanon, but nothing can be further
from the truth. A Saudi cell of the Lebanon-based Hizbullah helped by
Iran and possibly Osama bin Laden as well, probably carried out the 1996
bombing of the US Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran and the 1995 bombing
of the US military training center in Riadh. Syria seems to have allowed
or a least chose to ignore senior Iranian intelligence and Revolutionary
Guards officers (like Brigadier Ahmed Sherifi) and the Hizbullah using
Damascus and Hizbullah bases in the Bekaa as recruiting, training,
logistic and operational centers for subversive and terrorist activities
in Saudi Arabia. It is quite possible that Syrian military intelligence
may have had foreknowledge of the bombing in Dhahran. Hizbullah has also
helped Iran in its terrorist and subversive activities in Bahrain.
A thorough examination of
the often contradictory statements and declarations made by Hizbullah
leaders in recent years provides ample proof that this terrorist
organization posing as a group of “freedom fighters” is devoted to the
“cause” of the destruction of Israel rather than the “resistance” to
Israeli occupation in South Lebanon. The organization’s dangerous but so
far unsuccessful attempts to carry out bombing attacks inside Israel, its
recently reported increased efforts to recruit Europeans for the “job” and
its recent bombing of targets along the security fence on Israel’s
northern international border make a mockery of its declared goal to
“liberate” Lebanese territory from Israeli occupation. The belief shared
by some Israelis, mainly supporters of a unilateral IDF withdrawal from
the security zone, that Hizbullah would stop attacking Israeli targets as
soon as the IDF pulled out of Lebanon can best be described as naive.