![]() ![]() Reports from the Treasury Department and the New York Times indicate that Hezbollah and Qods personnel coordinated their operations in Yemen, with the former in charge of transferring funds and training Shiite insurgents, and the latter in charge of transferring advanced weapons such as antiaircraft missiles. There, Hezbollah and Qods Force personnel have helped the Houthis, a Zaidi Shiite insurgent group, fight the government. Since American and multinational forces withdrew from Iraq, Unit 3800 has been put to work elsewhere in the region, primarily in Yemen. Moreover, while operating in Iraq, he dealt directly with the Qods Force on certain occasions - further evidence of the high level of coordination between Hezbollah and the Iranians on Iraq. He was also responsible for planning other operations such as the aborted kidnapping of a British soldier, and gave specific instructions to those he trained about the use of IEDs. Daqduq was heavily involved in training tactical units of Iraqi Shiites and even took part in some of the operations they conducted. That well-executed operation was thoroughly planned with the help of the Qods Force and Hezbollah, as determined later through the capture of one of Hezbollah's best trainers in Iraq, Ali Musa Daqduq. The most prominent example of how this training helped the militias was probably the January 20, 2007, attack on the Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, which resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers. According to a 2010 Pentagon report, the group gave these militias "the training, tactics and technology to conduct kidnappings small unit tactical operations," and to "employ sophisticated improvised explosive devices (IEDs), incorporating lessons learned from operations in Southern Lebanon." Hezbollah also provided funds and weapons to Iraqi militias, but its most dangerous contribution was in the realm of special operations. intelligence, Unit 3800 sent a small number of personnel to Iraq to train hundreds of fighters in-country, while others were brought to Lebanon for more advanced training. To this end, Hezbollah created Unit 3800, whose sole purpose was to support Iraqi Shiite militant groups targeting multinational forces there. PAST ACTIVITY IN IRAQīeginning in 2003, Iran's Qods Force requested Hezbollah's services to help increase Tehran's influence in Iraq. The Hezbollah units have been set up with the encouragement and resources of Iran's Revolutionary Guards al-Qods Brigades." The Qods Force will likely request a similar initiative to aid the Shiite-led government in Baghdad today, turning these capabilities against ISIS with potentially far-reaching benefits for Iraqi Shiite militias. As a 2009 Australian government report concluded, "Hezbollah has established an insurgent capability in Iraq, engaging in assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. Yet the group can make a significant contribution to the Shiite counteroffensive in Iraq without having to redirect many of its operatives or resources from Syria.ĭuring the last Iraq war, Hezbollah effectively used a limited number of special operations personnel to train Iraqi Shiite militants and support sporadic special operations targeting coalition forces. To be sure, Hezbollah is heavily invested in the Syria war and will probably increase its presence there as Iraqi Shiites leave to defend their homeland from ISIS. On June 17, Nasrallah pledged, "We are ready to sacrifice martyrs in Iraq five times more than what we sacrificed in Syria in order to protect shrines," noting that Iraqi holy sites "are much more important" than Shiite shrines in Syria. Yet given the group's past special operations and training activities in Iraq and its close ties with Iran's elite Qods Force, even a modest deployment would likely have a significant impact. In Iraq, Hezbollah would likely dispatch only small numbers of trainers and special operators. In Syria, the Lebanese Shiite group's forces have already deployed in large numbers over the past several years and made all the difference in the Assad regime's battle for survival. Hezbollah's past operations in Iraq show that a limited number of experienced "consultants," working with Iran's Qods Force, could significantly increase the lethality of the local Shiite militias currently gearing up to counter the ISIS offensive.Īs Sunni militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) captured Mosul two weeks ago and set their sights on Baghdad, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah offered to send fighters to Iraq to help turn the jihadist tide.
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