Friday 18 February 2011

WINEP: Hezbollah ... First & last.

Via Friday-Lunch-Club.

"... Even as the Hizballah-led coalition prepares to take the reins of power, crowning the group as the dominant political force in Lebanon, a series of international criminal investigations have highlighted the organization's illicit activities at home and abroad. From money laundering and narcotrafficking to the Hariri assassination, Hizballah's track record of worldwide criminal activity may soon catch up with its political ambitions at home.
Conspiracy to Support the Taliban..
Trafficking Drugs and Laundering Money...
Prime Suspects in Hariri Assassination..
Hizballah is greatly concerned about the prospect of public indictments in the Hariri case, in large part because some of the group's senior members have already been named in the media as potential suspects. These include Qassem Suleiman, Hajj Salim, Abdul Majid Ghamloush, brothers Hussein and Mouin Khreis, and, most significantly, Mustafa Badreddine. The latter is the brother-in-law of Imad Mughniyah -- the assassinated chief of Hizballah's external operations, known as the "Islamic Jihad Organization" (IJO) -- and himself a senior IJO official....
Meanwhile, Hizballah regularly follows tribunal investigators on the ground in Lebanon and uses intimidation tactics against them. The group reportedly collects information on tribunal officials entering and leaving the country through airport surveillance, creating an environment in which investigators do not feel safe. The January 25, 2008, assassination of Lebanese Internal Security Forces captain Wissam Eid, who was detailed to the Hariri investigation, underscored those fears. According to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation report, the investigation of Eid's murder -- which also falls under the tribunal's jurisdiction -- implicated two more senior Hizballah officials, Hussein Khalil and Wafiq Safa...... In the meantime, Saad Hariri's calls for massive protests in Beirut on March 14, coming on the heels of events in Egypt and Tunisia, could pose a more immediate political challenge to Hizballah -- especially when it is already under the spotlight for operating less like a "resistance group" and more like a global criminal organization.
Posted by G, Z, or B at 1:48 PM
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

No comments: