U.S. AND IRAQ STEP UP OPERATIONS AGAINST IRANIAN TERRORIST GROUPS

Hurry! Get it done before Bush leaves office!

US forces detained five members of the Hezbollah Brigades in Baghdad on Saturday as part of a renewed push to blunt the return of Iranian-backed Shia terror groups reentering Iraq. The Iraqi and US military have stepped up operations against the Special Groups over the past two weeks. Iraqi and US forces killed two Special Groups fighters and captured 107 since Sept. 16.

The latest series of raids in Baghdad netted five members of the Hezbollah Brigades in New Baghdad, a former stronghold of Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army. The Hezbollah Brigades is an Iranian-backed terror group that has been behind multiple roadside bombings and rocket attacks against US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad. The group films these attacks and posts them on the internet. More than 30 Hezbollah Brigades operatives have been captured over the past two months. The group is estimated at having several hundred members.

The US military says Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah have helped establish, fund, train, and arm, and have provided operational support for Shia terror groups such as the Hezbollah Brigades and the League of the Righteous. The US military refers to these groups as well as the Iranian-backed elements of the Mahdi Army as the "Special Groups." These groups train in camps inside Iran. The US Treasury Department placed sanctions on a senior Iranian general and a Mahdi Army commander for arming, training, and funding Shia terror groups in Iraq on Sept. 16.

Recently an Iraqi police chief said Special Groups fighters and leaders were beginning to return into Iraq from bases in Iran.

"The Special Groups are returning from Iran after receiving training in using new tactics," Brigadier General Sabah al Fatlawi, the chief of police in the southern province of Dhi Qhar, told AFP on Sept. 16. "We have seized 20 motorcycle bombs in Nasiriyah. Some groups have arrived in Nasiriyah ... They are crossing the border through Amarah." Amarah borders Iran and served as the Mahdi Army and Special Group's headquarters in the South.

One of the largest single roundups of Iranian-backed fighters occurred on Sept. 25-26 north of Nasiriyah. Iraqi forces detained 53 Special Groups operatives and found large weapons caches during a series of operations north of the city.

HEZBOLLAH MUTILATED BODIES OF ISRAELI SOLDIERS

Of course they did. They're friggin' animals.

As Israel buries her fallen sons, harsh questions and details are arising from the exchange which took place yesterday. According to Israeli officials, the bodies were received in a severely-damaged state which may have lengthened the confirmation of their identities. Former IDF Medical Corps and Chief Military Rabbinate officials have noted the tragic expertise Israel has gathered in years of conflict, but remained shocked by what they saw yesterday at the Rosh HaNikra border crossing.

Rabbi Yisrael Weiss, former Chief Rabbi of the IDF, who was present during the transfer of the fallen soldiers yesterday, said that "the verification process yesterday was very slow, because, if we thought the enemy was cruel to the living and the dead, we were surprised, when we opened the caskets, to discover just how cruel. And I'll leave it at that."

SUNNIS IN LEBANON VOW TO NEVER SURRENDER TO HEZBOLLAH

Big talk. But I honestly don't think these guys have the guts to stand their ground.

Lebanon's Sunni Muslim leader Saad Al Hariri pledged yesterday there would be no political surrender to what he called a bid by Hizbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers to impose their will on the nation by force.

"They simply are demanding that we surrender, they want Beirut to raise white flags... This is impossible," Hariri said.

"They will not be able to obtain Saad Al Hariri's signature ... on a deed to surrender to the Iranian and Syrian regimes," he said.

This "never surrender" talk comes on the heels of a stern warning to Iran from Saudi Arabia to stay out of Lebanon. All this huffin' and puffin' means little in light of the fact that the Saudi and Lebanese armies couldn't stop a food fight at a high school cafeteria, much less pose any reason for terrorists to pause.

IRAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CAUGHT FIGHTING FOR HEZBOLLAH

From Debbie Schlussel:

My exclusive Lebanese Intelligence sources tell me that a number of Hezbollah terrorist fighters have been caught, over the weekend, and they cannot speak Arabic, only Farsi. They are Iranian and have identified themselves or been identified by third parties as members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This is the same group that, under Khomeini, took over the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and kept U.S. civilians hostage for over 444 days in 1979-81, in Iran.

AL QAEDA DECLARES WAR ON HEZBOLLAH

AQ must be running out of soft targets in Iraq.

Al-Qaeda has reportedly called on its operatives to go to Lebanon and defend what it called the Sunni community of the country.

The report came while some Arab media outlets described the current clashes in Lebanon as a fight between Sunni and Shia communities.

In an interviews with Sunni clerics with links to Saad Hariri's pro-government bloc, Al-Arabiya TV network described the ongoing clashes as a sectarian strife.

Sheikh Ali al-Jozo, Mufti of the Jebel region, who is well known for his harsh stance against Hezbollah told the TV network that the clashes are a battle between Lebanon's Shia and Sunni communities and called on Arab leaders to prevent "Iran's influence in the country."

The TV network reported that al-Qaeda on all of its websites urged its operatives to defend the Sunni community of Lebanon.

The reports came while in interviews with NBN and al-Manar TV stations on Thursday, a number of Sunni clerics said that the clashes are not a sectarian strife and many Sunni Muslims in Lebanon support Hezbollah.

There is a Sunni/Shia split to be exploited in the Middle East. Of course, what can be made of this split is a mystery. None of those people think right.
*