(Guardian-UK) Ewen MacAskill- The Iranian-backed Hizballah is increasingly involved in sending orders and money from its Beirut headquarters into the West Bank, according to a senior Israeli intelligence official. The group has 10 "controllers" in Beirut who are in daily contact with Palestinian groups in the West Bank, mainly the al-Aqsa Brigades, the official said. Hizballah controls 44 cells in the Palestinian territories that have carried out 62 attacks in which 27 Israelis have been killed and 50 injured, he said. Arafat said this week that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, "is working against us and giving money to all these fanatical groups, financing Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and trying to infiltrate Fatah." The intelligence official said that, although Hamas received money from Iran, it had resisted Hizballah involvement in Gaza. But he said it was different on the West Bank. The official also confirmed that there was regular contact between Israeli intelligence officers and their counterparts in the PA.
2004-10-15 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive