Sunni Group Bombs Shias

Somehow, the US is to balme for a sunni suicide bombing aginst Shiites....

-Shimron Issachar

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Sunni Muslim rebel group Jundollah has claimed responsibility for the attack near the Grand Mosque in Zahedan, which it says was in retaliation for the execution of its leader Abdolmalek Rigi last month.Iranian clerical leaders have claimed the attack was supported by the U.S. in order to create instability in the Middle East country.

The powerful bombs killed at least 28 people at the holy site, including elite members of the Revolutionary Guard, and were apparently carried out by relatives of Abdolmalek Rigi.

Al Arabiya television reported: ‘The group said the suicide attacks were carried out by Abdolbaset Rigi and Mohammad Rigi… and warned of more operations to come.’

Senior Iranian lawmaker Alaeddin Boroujerdi said the U.S. should be held accountable for the ‘terrorist acts in Zahedan’ because of its support for Jundollah.

Cleric Kazem Sediqi said in a sermon broadcast on state radio today: ‘Once more the wicked hand of America appeared out of the sleeves of ignorant and mercenary people.’

The Rest @ Focus

Hezbollah and Salafi Groups Sign Agreement in Lebanon

Shiia Islam and Sunni -Salaf Islam are historically in opposition, sometimes war against each other, though they have been agreement in their anti-American and Israel positions.

There is an unconfirmed memorandum of understanding (See below) between Shiia and Salafis about war against America. If this alleged Lebanon based agreement is true, it has significant implications for Jihad in Africa.

Hezbollah has significant connections in African commerce, especially in the coastal regions. To date most Hezbollah contribution to terror appears to be in the form of "tax" collection that gets funneled back to Hezbollah in Lebanon, which directs the terror acts using the funds.

There are significant terror groups all over North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and if Hezbollah starts directing some of their funds into Salafi Terror groups which range from AQIM in the Maghreb to the Shabaab in Somalia, The Salafi terror groups could divert their time and efforts from petty local criminal, kidnapping, and trafficking activities to raise funds to significant acts of war against Western Targets in Africa.

-Shimron


Hezbollah Signs Pact with Salafis
By Walid PharesAmidst a growing world crisis, new developments in Lebanon may signal what lies ahead in the sphere of global jihadist forces in the near future. A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Hezbollah, the main pro-Iranian organization in the region, and a number of Salafist groups outlining efforts to "confront America."

The Rest @ Muslims Against Sharia


On Aug. 19, leaders from Hezbollah and Salafist organizations called a press conference at Al Safir Hotel in Beirut's Raouche district and signed a memo of understanding between the two forces.

Radwan Aqeel wrote in the Beirut daily An-Nahar (Aug. 18): "Hezbollah is practicing a calm policy of overture toward the Sunni political and religious forces, especially since last May (against the Sunni Future Movement) to save the image the party has developed in the past as an 'Islamic resistance' in the Arab and Muslim world including in the Arab Gulf, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian territories."

It is believed that the move by Hezbollah to sign an agreement of understanding with Salafist organizations aims ultimately at penetrating the Arab Sunni world via Lebanon's Muslim community and maintaining an influence over the region's attitude toward the West.
According to Aqeel, "this move didn't come [out of the] void, but after many meetings away from media between representatives of Hezbollah and some Salafist groups." These encounters, said An-Nahar, included the head of Hezbollah's political bureau Ibrahim al-Amin and Sheikh Safuan al-Zuhbi from the Salafist movement.

Another Beirut daily, Al-Mustaqbal (Aug. 18) wrote that Hezbollah has been successful in recruiting 15 Salafist groups in Lebanon including the Waqf Ahya' al-Turath al-Islami to form a "Salafist camp" allied to the Iranian-Syrian axis. Hezbollah officials, wrote Al-Mustaqbal, are declaring that Americans have been defeated in the region by "resistance" in Lebanon, Iraq and Gaza.

The Rest @ Counterterrosim Blog

Late breaking news

Other Salafi Groups appear to be "excommunicating" these 15 Salafi Groups, and they are now claiming to "freeze the agreement

Salafis freeze memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah

Published: Tuesday, 19 August, 2008 @ 10:10 PM in Beirut

Tripoli -The Salafi groups in Lebanon on Tuesday announced indefinite freezing of a memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah, 24 hours after it was announced at a press conference in Beirut.

Sheikh Hassan Shahhal, who signed the understanding on Monday with Hezbollah 's Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, declared freezing the agreement pending "appropriate circumstances that allow its implementation."

Sheikh Hassan made the announcement after a meeting with leaders of Salafi factions presided over by their highest authority Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal who had rushed to denounce and criticize the deal with Hezbollah, minutes after it was announced on Monday.

The Dai, or Preacher, on Monday termed the agreement "media crackling in favor of Hezbollah and the Shiite community" and called for abolishing it.

The freeze was announced in the northern town of Tripoli, power base of the Salafi movement.
"The Salafi movement totally rejects this document … and who signed it has no right to claim belonging to the Salafi movement or representing it," the ageing Dai al-Islam Shahhal said on Monday.

"This document is … harmful to the Sunni community and would end up in vain, God willing," he added.

"Those who signed it have no influence, and whoever wants to defuse tension should talk to forces that do exist," he stressed.

Hezbollah and its allies welcomed the understanding that was sharply rejected by almost all Sunni factions and members of the March 14 majority alliance.

Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, who heads the largest Sunni bloc, had avoided direct comment on the understanding. But his aides and members of his parliamentary bloc said he opposed it.

The Rest @ Yalbinan

Iran and the Comoros

Special Dispatch No. 2004 July 28, 2008Egypt/IranInvestigation by Egyptian Daily Al-Ahram Finds Iranian Involvement, Shi'ization in Comoros Islands

Recently, Iran has been showing increased interest in the Union of the Comoros, the island nation off Africa's east coast.

Historically, the inhabitants of this nation's three component islands were mostly Shi'ite, until they were conquered by France in the mid-19th century; today, most residents are Shafi'i Sunnis.

Iran's interest in the Union of the Comoros is supported by Comoros President Ahmad Abdallah Sambi, despite opposition from various elements in the country.

On May 1, 2008, the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram published an investigative article on Shi'ization in the Union of the Comoros. Following are translated excerpts from the investigation:

(1) Iranian Elements Are In Charge of Security for Comoros President Sambi According to the Al-Ahram report, ever since Ahmad Abdallah Sambi was elected president in 2006, Iranian intervention in the Union of the Comoros has intensified, as manifested in the office of the presidency as well as in the areas of medicine, culture, and humanitarian and other aid:

"The Iranian presence in Comoros is currently focused in four areas, the most important of which is the institution of the presidency. According to statements by a politician in the Comoros Islands, Iranian elements are in charge of security for President Ahmad Abdallah Sambi... inside the country and also on his trips outside it.

"Iran has also set up a medical center belonging to the Iranian Red cross... a cultural center... and an additional center for humanitarian aid, officially called the Al-Khomeini Committee for Help in the Comoros Islands... Also, according to reports from several sources, Iran is planning to set up an embassy there in the near future...

"The medical center's main activity focuses, of course, on providing various medical treatments at no cost to the Comoros Islanders. The Imam Khomeini Help Committee conducts various humanitarian activities, the most important of which are three-month professional training courses... for the Comoros youth... They also give help to poor families, and provide them with material and economic support. Five hundred families benefit from this bimonthly support. "

Comoros Residents Call Their President "Ayatollah" Al-Ahram reported that "prominent Comoros politicians link the Iranian presence [in the country] to President Sambi's affection for Iran, where he attended religious studies in his youth.

Some of them even accuse the president of secretly becoming a Shi'ite, and of attempting to spread [Shi'ism] in the country, [which is] Sunni Arab." The paper added that "[even before he was president,] island residents called him 'Ayatollah.' The president says that at first he opposed the nickname, but afterwards came to think that there was nothing wrong with it, and therefore agreed to it." According to the Al-Ahram report, "there are numerous reasons for the opposition members' accusations that the president has affection for Iran, and perhaps even became a Shi'ite: his dress, which is similar to that of Iranian clerics; his personal interest in links with Iran, to the point of appointing a relative as ambassador of his country in Tehran; his personal oversight of Iran's activity in his country, and even the Iranian medical center, [which] began operations without applying for a license from the Health Ministry... the [staff's] entrance into the country followed a direct request from President Ahmad Abdallah Sambi."

However, the Al-Ahram report also raised the possibility that the Iranian presence in the country was not the result of a deliberate policy of President Sambi's, but of lack of choice, stating: "Perhaps the reason behind Sambi's agreement to the Iranian presence is a poor country's need for any foreign help, in light of the lack of Arab support..."

Has President Sambi Become a Shi'ite? In addition to this evidence, the Al-Ahram report cites statements posted on a Shi'ite website confirming rumors about President Sambi becoming a Shi'ite: "Sambi is one of the most prominent clerics on the African continent, who has studied with the religious authority Ayatollah Al-Sayyed Muhammad Taqi Al-Modarresi... and he moved from the Sunni school to the Shi'ite school, thus becoming a proselytizer of Shi'ism in the Comoros Islands."

According to the report, "the president of Comoros denies these charges outright; he always stresses... that he belongs to the Shafi'ite school... and that he has affection for Shi'ites."

However, President Sambi's opponents claim that his denials are a manifestation of the Shi'ite principle of taqiyyah, permitting them to pretend not to be Shi'ites when necessary: "They [many in Comoros political circles] accuse him of secretly becoming a Shi'ite, [and of] implementing the principle of taqiyyah."

The report also presented evidence that "according to one of the island's residents... the president once lived in Dubai and would pray at a Shi'ite mosque [there]."

Sunni Clerics Against Shi'ization The spread of Iranian-Shi'ite influence and activity in the Union of the Comoros has aroused not only opposition from Comoros politicians but also the anger of Sunni clerics in the country – who have demanded that the authorities expel the Iranian Shi'ite missionaries and protect the Sunna: "Some of the activities conducted by the Iranian cultural center have enraged the [Sunni] clerics in the Comoros Islands, after they sensed that they were attempting to disseminate Shi'ism in the region.

"In February 2007, 60 Sunni clerics met in the capital Moroni and warned of the danger inherent in the holding of Shi'ite ceremonies in the island. This meeting took place several days after some Comoros Island residents held in public, for the first time in the island's history, the Ashoura, the ceremony commemorating the killing of Imam Al-Hussein.

These clerics... headed by the capital's head qadi... demanded the expulsion of the foreigners who are disseminating Shi'ism in the Comoros Islands. They demanded that President Sambi protect the Sunni ceremonies – but the president decided to leave the cultural center [in place, but] to restrict its activity so that it would not anger those who oppose it.

"The [Sunni] clerics in the Comoros Islands continue to fear the activity of the Iranian institutions operating on the country's soil, and are unconvinced that their real goals are purely humanitarian..."

Al-Ahram: Sunni Arab Countries Must Increase Presence in the Comoros Islands The Al-Ahram report concluded with a call to Arab countries to increase their diplomatic presence in the Union of the Comoros, and even to support its economy – before the country becomes another focus of tension between the Arab countries and Iran, and between Shi'ites and Sunnis:

"In any event, the presence of only one Arab embassy – that of Libya – is inconceivable, and there is no escape from increasing the Arab presence there by establishing diplomatic representations in addition to those currently in place in the capital Moroni. "Similarly, there is no escape from taking an interest in the economic situation of this poor country... Certainly, the establishment of a number of economic projects there, in addition to aid, is considered essential in dealing with the problem, which is still in its early days – before it gets worse and becomes a new center of Arab-Iranian tension that we do not need."

Al-Ahram (Egypt), May 1, 2008, as translated by MEMRI

Sunni and Shia Islamist Connection Rooted in Lebanon

Hussein al-Khalil first established Hizballah’s security apparatus in Bekka [9] during the summer of 1982, coordinating operations with Islamic AMAL before it was formally
subordinated to Hizballah under Hussein Musawi after 1984. [10] The Musawi and Hamadi clans became the core clans of the embryonic Hizballah organization, [11] and this structure magnified the difficulty for hostile services attempting to penetrate Hizballah.

It made the exercise akin to penetrating a family. Hizballah’s security apparatus reflected the configuration of Shi’a clans and Hizballah’s operational emphasis in each of Lebanon’s three distinct geographic regions of Shi’a dominance. The geographic regions themselves became subdivided into sectors, creating a compartmentalized operational environment. The Bekka region with the largest IRGC component was characterized by a focus on logistics and training. [12] The southern region of Lebanon had an operational emphasis on the confrontation with Israel, and the organizational focus in the Beirut region was primarily political. In all of the regions, the security apparatus focused initially on internal security, then on covert and military operations.

Hizballah developed multiple and overlapping security organs aimed at maintaining organizational integrity. Hizballah’s operational security requires a strict separation between Hizballah’s political and military wings. Consequently, the ability of Hizballah’s political wing to exercise administrative control over the military wing and its security organs is problematic.

Additionally, Hizballah is, at least in part, heavily influenced by Iran, which has created divisions over any external political and administrative control over the military and security components of the organization. Because the impetus for the creation of Hizballah was Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, administrative control over the Hizballah’s military and security components are divided between both the Hizballah political leadership and the Pasdaran Iran’s objectives were to further Shi’a Islamist revolution, while Syrian President Hafez al-Assad facilitated Pasdaran operations in the Bekka to immunize his troops in Lebanon against Shi'a militants.[13] Al-Assad’s support of both AMAL and the Hizballah was important because of the greater affinity of Assad’s Alawite tribe for the secularists of AMAL.

A common element across all of Hizballah’s security entities is their reliance on fighters drawn from the Shi’a communities throughout Lebanon. The initial model for Hizballah’s security services was Fatah’s Jihaz al-Razd and the AMAL security entity based loosely on it. [14] Because Hizballah is not a state, a basic intelligence dilemma that faces the organization is the problematic task of establishing and maintaining secure territory and secure facilities. The problem is ameliorated somewhat by using secure facilities in territories of friendly states like Iran. [15] Hizballah’s first security concern was necessarily a counterintelligence function [16] to maintain organizational integrity. Hizballah counterintelligence capabilities were influenced by the Pasdaran Quds and applied by Hizballah to local Lebanese circumstances in the context of Syrian occupied Lebanon. Hizballah has successfully executed both defensive and offensive counterintelligence operations. Successful defensive counterintelligence operations are documented as far back as the middle 1980s, when Imad Mugniyah disrupted United States operations involving Lebanese nationals working the Lebanese-Cyprus ferry lines. [17] By 1997, Hizballah counterintelligence could effectively use double agents to mislead the Israelis, successfully executing operations against 13 Israeli Shayetet naval commandos near Sidon, leaving 12 Israelis dead [18] The Hizballah kidnapping of Mossad operative Colonel Elhanan Tannenbaum in 2000 illustrates a more recent successful defensive counterintelligence operation. Tannenbaum had apparently tried to run a “false flag” operation against Hizballah from Europe by claiming to represent a European country. Hizballah lured Col. Tannenbaum to Beirut, where he was taken into custody by Hizballah security personnel. [19]
There are also several known instances of successful Hizballah offensive counterintelligence operations. Hizballah, for example, managed to compromise IDF Lieutenant Colonel Omar al-Heib, who traded surveillance data on IDF military installations for narcotics later distributed by al-Heib’s organization. The IDF believes that data compromised by Lt. Col. al-Heib allowed for successful Hizballah targeting of Mt. Meron [20] at the outset of the Israel-Hizballah war of 2006.[21] Recently, Hizballah successfully placed Nadia N. Prouty in the CIA. In a classic operation reminiscent of the U.S-Soviet Cold War, Prouty legally entered the U.S. and then gained citizenship through a sham marriage. She thereafter applied for work and successfully infiltrated the FBI and used that position to leverage a job at the CIA. [22]

Western services have also seen achievement. The defection of Abu al-Kassam Misbahi (Farhad, a co-founder of Iran’s VEVAK intelligence organ) in Germany during the middle 1990s [23] was a significant accomplishment. The 2007 defection in Ankara of General Ali Reza Ashgari [24] of Pasdaran Quds, who was instrumental in building Hizballah’s organization in Bekka during the early-middle 1980s, was also important. Most recently, the February 2008 assassination of Imad Mugniyah (Hajj Radwan), presumably by Mossad’s Kidon element, was a significant coup for Western intelligence. [25]

Hizballah’s intelligence collection abilities have improved over time as well. Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon taught Hizballah the importance of tactical intelligence collection, precipitating Hizballah’s careful and ongoing effort to understand how the IDF conducted operations in southern Lebanon. Intelligence collected by Hizballah respecting IDF operational methods prior to the IDF withdrawal in 2000 paid off with the Hizballah victory in the 2006 war.

Hizballah covert operations are carried out using multiple descriptors for its security apparatus. Hizballah followed some early Fatah conventions wherein Fatah’s Jihaz al-Razd security entity operated using the Black September Organization moniker during the 1970s.

The creation of Hizballah in the summer of 1982 under IRGC guidance necessarily saw preliminary operations limited to the coalescence of Hizballah’s constituent entities under multiple names. Hizballah’s only opposition at that juncture were small scale actions aimed at controlling territory and organizing personnel with AMAL and other local militias. [26]

The security apparatus was then focused on a very narrow core of Hizballah operations, organized with fighters drawn primarily from the Hamadi and Musawi clans. These same fighters conducted operations using different organizational names.

The core functions were configured and nurtured by elements of the Bekka’s Pasdaran Qud’s [27] sustaining Hizballah’s Lebanese operations. The attack on the U.S. Embassy in the spring of 1983, and attacks on both the multinational forces and the Israeli intelligence center established in occupied Tyre in the fall of that year, were Hizballah’s first major operations against foreigners. These covert operations executed by the security apparatus initiated an operational pattern characterizing subsequent major events. The pattern was direct IRGC support in financing and logistics facilitated by Syrian non-interference [28] in Hizballah operations. During the middle 1980s, this pattern was followed by the security apparatus in its management of kidnapping operations directed against foreigners. [29]

As Lebanon became relatively more stable, the tasks of the security apparatus evolved to include security functions supporting Hizballah’s social and political operations as well as military operations. With Hizballah’s emergence as a political party representing the bulk of Lebanon’s Shi’a, the security apparatus accrued some functions analogous to an Interior Ministry. Police functions became necessary to maintain both the integrity of the party and Lebanon’s Shi’a body politic in territories controlled by Hizballah. Within this “domestic” side of the security apparatus was an entity Amad Hamzeh described as an “engagement and coordination unit” under the authority of Hajj Wafic Safa. [30] It eventually turned ordinary criminals threatening Hizballah persons or property over to Lebanon’s ostensive authorities. [31] The security apparatus thereby divided functionally between these police functions and functions supporting military and covert operations. Additionally, about two hundred Hizballah fighters operate in a preventive security apparatus under Mahmud Haidar (Abu Ali) in an executive protection role modeled on Fatah’s Force 17 that provides security for Hizballah politicians. Elements of the security apparatus also served as an asset for the IRGC Quds. Hizballah’s Unit 1800, for example, was established primarily to serve Iranian foreign policy goals by coordinating Hizballah assistance to multiple Sunni Palestinian Islamists organizations in the West Bank and Gaza.

The operational genesis was rooted in the deportation by Israel of four-hundred Hamas militants into southern Lebanon in 1992. Those Sunni Palestinian Islamists were housed and indoctrinated through the good offices of Hizballah. This allowed ties to be forged across the not so insignificant religious division between Shi’a and Sunni Islamists. The Sunni have historically seen the Shi’a as an illegitimate heretical sect, and much blood has been shed between the two main sects of Islam throughout the centuries over these religious disputes. In this instance, however, Israel’s role as a common enemy, superseded the two sect’s theological differences, and this coordination against Israel facilitated a rarely seen cooperation between the Sunni and Shi’a.

Conclusion

The security architecture created by the Hizballah organization reflects its development in Lebanon’s operational environment. The structure of the security apparatus was a function initially of the kinship patterns within the Hamadi and Musawi clans and their associated Islamist groups welded to a security architecture created by the Pasdaran Quds within Syrian and Israeli-occupied Lebanon. Additional Shi’a clans and families were incorporated into Hizballah as the organization expanded. Hizballah’s security architecture evolved with the reconstruction of Lebanon in the 1990s and the changing role of the Shi’a in Lebanese society. The emergence of a more developed and assertive Shi’a polity saw the expansion of the Hizballah security apparatus into a more nuanced and sophisticated organization even as relations between Hizballah and Iran strengthened.
The various Hizballah security entities interact today with external services which necessarily shape the configuration of Hizballah’s security apparatus at any given point in time. Hizballah’s fundamental intelligence challenge is filtering analysis through an Islamist veneer thereby degrading the analytical product. Hizballah has emphasized Hebrew language skills for some of its fighters, yet comprehending Hebrew is not the same thing as grasping Israeli thought. Archie Roosevelt [32] argued long ago that a lust for knowing which seeks understanding unclouded by worldview must animate the intelligence enterprise. Hizballah’s security apparatus must lust to know Israel even as it understands Hebrew. In a larger sense, the Hizballah security apparatus must create a raison d’être that goes beyond moribund dreams of a Lebanese Islamic Republic or its utility furthering Iran’s imperial ambitions. Hizballah’s security apparatus must affirm Shi’a political and social aspirations in Lebanon to survive.

Te Rest frpm Carl Anthony Wege

Iran is Funding Sunni Insurgencies - Why?

Iran, the capital of shiia Islam, is beginning to fund, train or arm Sunni insurgencies.

• Funding "Palestinian resistance" reaches across all Islamic lines, so it does not surprise me that they have equipped Hamas and other anti-Israel Groups.
• Recently they have funded or supplied weapons to Taliban forces in Afghanistan. This is surprising , since Iran has always opposed the Taliban in the past.
• They have also supported al Qaeda forces in Iraq, on several occasions, in Somalia and now in Northern Lebanon.
• There is even some suggestion that Iran has been protecting al Qaeda leaders.

Karzai the President of the Western supported Afghan government, said recently "Afghanistan and Iran have never been as friendly as they are today" and noted that Iran has been contributing to Afghanistan’s reconstruction for the past five years.

Yet they are also supplying the Taliban - who are fighting to overthrow Karzi's government, with arms

So Iran is deceptively supplying everybody....Why?

• al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has been killing Shias, armed with Shia supplied weapons. Iran's only "win" out of this is to destabilize Iraq enough to justify an invasion. (taking a play from the Syrian -Lebanese Handbook.
• They gave arms to al Qaeda in Lebanon so they could gather intelligence on the Lebanese army - you notice Hizbollah is sitting this one out.
• By supplying arms to both sides in Afghanistan, they destabilize the region. and fight Westerners
• They are equipping al Qaeda in Somalia - why? I don't know yet.

In a nutshell, the Shiite state is looking for legitimacy in Islam. They are a minority, considered a "cult" by most other Muslims. An American similarity is the Mormon (LDS) church and evaglicalism. LDS leaders are constantly marketing the church is just another Christian religion, and they would love to be asked to come to the mainstream party.

Shias and Sunnis have a similar relationship.

The Shiias are happy to talk to the Sunnis

...It shows the desperation of al Qaeda that they are willing to take anything from a Shia

Iran Funds Zimbabwe radio station

-I wonder if Libya Brokered this deal.....

Shimron

Mugabe has in recent years increasingly turned to friendly countries for help [AFP]
Zimbabwe is to set up a new radio station to counter what it perceives as propaganda from outside countries against Robert Mugabe, the country's president.

Zimbabwe's information minister made the announcement after talks on Friday with Rasoul Momeni, Iran's ambassador to Harare, in a deal to refurbish public broadcasting studios in Bulawayo.

Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told the Ziana state news agency: "We are under siege and being bombarded by the Western media broadcasting to our people.

"There will be a revolutionary development in the media. We should be able to tell our own story."

The short-wave station, the fifth to be run by the state, will go on air before April 18 when the country commemorates its 27th independence anniversary, according to the agency and the country's Daily Herald newspaper.

The Rest @ al Jazeera

Ahmadinejad of Iran & Saudi King Abdullah meet in Riyadh

Saudi funds Sunnis and Iran funds Shias. The two who are fudning the Iraq insurrgency met Saturday....I would have loved to be fly on the wall there....I wonder if they discussed Lebanon and Africa....

-Shimron

TEHRAN, IRAN - The leaders of rival regional powers Iran and Saudi Arabia are vowing to curb the sectarian strife that is increasingly defining conflict across the Middle East.

The pledge to calm tensions, as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his first official visit to meet Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh on Saturday, illustrates the growing regional alarm over Shiite-Sunni violence. Sectarian bloodshed has soared in Iraq – often at the hands of allies and coreligionists of these rival nations – and is threatening stability in Lebanon.

Yet while both leaders prefer to blame outside actors for the increase in sectarian tension – their promises to support peace notwithstanding – elements in Iran and Saudi Arabia have helped to finance sectarian militias in Iraq and, in the case of the Saudis, engaged in heated sectarian rhetoric. Still the leaders stated that the "greatest danger" to Islam is the "attempt to fuel the fire of strife between Sunni and Shiite Muslims" and called for unity, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

read more by Scott Peterson of the

Sunnis killed by Sunnis for talking to Shias

BAGHDAD (AP) — Six Sunni men who had received death threats for meeting with local Shiites were killed Saturday in execution-style slayings, Iraqi police and military officials said.

The attack near Youssifiyah, 12 miles south of the Iraqi capital, was apparently connected to rising sectarian violence that has included the claimed abduction and execution Friday of at least 14 members of the Shiite-led security forces. But in this case, Iraqi authorities said they believed Sunni gunmen had killed fellow Sunnis — revealing a rift between those who support reconciliation with Shiites and those who will kill to stop it.

read more from USAToday

Alms (Zakat) Pay for Jihad-by Islamic Law & Tradition

In the West, We about Islamic Alms giving. Christians or Jews may assume it is like the "Tithe" .

They would be wrong.

Though Zakat is to provide for the poor and other worthy causes like disaster relief, It is also used to Defend the Umma (Islamic Lands) and to expand them.

uses for Zakat are as follows: (from Wikipedia)

Faqir - One who has neither material possessions nor means of livelihood.
Miskin - One with insufficient means of livelihood to meet basic needs.
Amil - Workers associated with the collection and distribution of Zakat.
Muallafathul Quloob - One who converts to Islam. Literally those whose hearts are softened.
Riqab - One who wants to free himself from bondage or the shackles of slavery.
Gharmin - One who is in debt (money borrowed to meet basic, halal expenditure).
Fisabilillah - Literal meaning 'In the way of God', but it is used for Jihad.
Ibnus Sabil - One who is stranded in journey.

The Zakat is collected, and Islamic banks have accounts set up for the collectors of Zakat. Some accounts are co-mingled, or dedicated to Jihad, like Account 98

Therefore, if an Islamic Student group in the US collects donations to support Tsunami Victims in Indonesia, when the funds arrive in country it is perfectly ethical under Islamic Law and tradition to use the funds to equip and Pay Jihadists.

This is convenient. This means the student collectors in the US can plausibly deny knowledge of how the funds were spent and claim ignorance, calling the US government "liars" when investigators trace the funds back to them.

Question to ask your local Western Islamic Charity: If you collect for the poor, how will I know it will not be used to support Jihad?
....so look up carefully any islamic Charity that is operating in a Jihad region. There are a number of databases that various governments have created to identify Islamic Charities who have been used to fund Jihad. Many are listed in the collumn at the right.

-Shimron Issachar

The Coming Sunni - Shiite Conflict

It is time for the US to sit down with Saudi, Egypt, Kuwait, UAE and others

• Tell them we would love to leave this Shiite thing alone (Iran - Hezbolla - Syria)
• They need to deal with their threats to the world themselves:
• This way we stay out.

It will take at least two years for them to come to a limited truce. This will take an trememdous amount of focus for the salayyia/Wahhabist resources.

A coordinated and intense time of Evangelcial Chrstian Prayer is needed for Africa during this two year time.

Thoughts?

Saudi Jihad Financers Dance but Don't' Die

We continue to search for Funding Mechanisms and networks for Global Jihad.

“Since June [2004], intermittent reports have suggested Riyadh was on the verge of taking firm action against terror financiers among the Saudi elite. After a series of unexplained delays, a U.S. delegation visiting the Saudi capital in December finally secured Saudi agreement to shut the offices of the al Haramain Foundation in Indonesia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Pakistan, and take action against senior al Haramain officials in Saudi Arabia. Specifically, the Saudis were expected to announce criminal proceedings against the foundation's recently fired director of 13 years, Sheikh Aqel al Aqel, who according to well-informed sources was caught transporting millions of dollars out of the country via couriers. This week, when the much anticipated press conference was finally held, the closure of a few more al Haramain branches proved anticlimactic in the glaring absence of any action against al Aqel or any of the other prominent Saudis bankrolling terror.”

read the rest from The Counter Terrorism blog

Radical Islam's coming split: Christian Evangelical Impact

the radical arms of Both Shi'ite and Sunni Islam are already at war. This expanded in Iraq, and there are signs that the war is escalating. This has signifcant implications to Jihad world wide, and the work of Evangelical Christians.

Introduction

Islam has a number of traditions. The two largest groups are Sunni & Shia , in respective order. Radical Shi'ism Islam, led by the government of Iran and it's multinational proxy Hezbollah has been preparing itself for war with the west. However, there are signs that the Largest Islamic group, the Sunnis, are moving to Counter The growth in power of Radical Shi' ism.

1. Evidence is emerging that Saudi Arabia, controlled by Wahhabi Sunni Isalm, is deliberately moving to undermine the price of Iranian oil. This will keep them from being able to fund the expansion of their agenda.
2. A Kuwati Sunni Cleric is drafting a comprehensive strategy for a two fronted war for al Qaida, (a Sunni terrorist group) fighting both America and Shi'ite fronts simultaneously.
3. In Iraq the recent battle with the army of heaven, a Shiite splinter group illustrates that even within groups the forces are are not holding together.

-more to follow

-Shimron Issachar

An Islamic Caliphate in Seven Easy Steps

A Jordanian journalist writes, "I interviewed a whole range of al-Qaida members with different ideologies to get an idea of how the war between the terrorists and Washington would develop in the future." What he then describes between pages 202 and 213 is a scenario, proof both of the terrorists' blindness as well as their brutal single-mindedness. In seven phases the terror network hopes to establish an Islamic caliphate which the West will then be too weak to fight.

The First Phase Known as "the awakening" -- this has already been carried out and was supposed to have lasted from 2000 to 2003, or more precisely from the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in New York and Washington to the fall of Baghdad in 2003. The aim of the attacks of 9/11 was to provoke the US into declaring war on the Islamic world and thereby "awakening" Muslims. "The first phase was judged by the strategists and masterminds behind al-Qaida as very successful," writes Hussein. "The battle field was opened up and the Americans and their allies became a closer and easier target." The terrorist network is also reported as being satisfied that its message can now be heard "everywhere."

The Second Phase "Opening Eyes" is, according to Hussein's definition, the period we are now in and should last until 2006. Hussein says the terrorists hope to make the western conspiracy aware of the "Islamic community." Hussein believes this is a phase in which al-Qaida wants an organization to develop into a movement. The network is banking on recruiting young men during this period. Iraq should become the center for all global operations, with an "army" set up there and bases established in other Arabic states.

The Third Phase This is described as "Arising and Standing Up" and should last from 2007 to 2010. "There will be a focus on Syria," prophesies Hussein, based on what his sources told him. The fighting cadres are supposedly already prepared and some are in Iraq. Attacks on Turkey and -- even more explosive -- in Israel are predicted. Al-Qaida's masterminds hope that attacks on Israel will help the terrorist group become a recognized organization. The author also believes that countries neighboring Iraq, such as Jordan, are also in danger.

The Fourth Phase Between 2010 and 2013, Hussein writes that al-Qaida will aim to bring about the collapse of the hated Arabic governments. The estimate is that "the creeping loss of the regimes' power will lead to a steady growth in strength within al-Qaida." At the same time attacks will be carried out against oil suppliers and the US economy will be targeted using cyber terrorism.

The Fifth Phase This will be the point at which an Islamic state, or caliphate, can be declared. The plan is that by this time, between 2013 and 2016, Western influence in the Islamic world will be so reduced and Israel weakened so much, that resistance will not be feared. Al-Qaida hopes that by then the Islamic state will be able to bring about a new world order.

The Sixth Phase Hussein believes that from 2016 onwards there will a period of "total confrontation." As soon as the caliphate has been declared the "Islamic army" it will instigate the "fight between the believers and the non-believers" which has so often been predicted by Osama bin Laden.

The Seventh Phase This final stage is described as "definitive victory." Hussein writes that in the terrorists' eyes, because the rest of the world will be so beaten down by the "one-and-a-half billion Muslims," the caliphate will undoubtedly succeed. This phase should be completed by 2020, although the war shouldn't last longer than two years.

Read the complete article by Yassin Musharbash