Report: Hizbullah Supervising, Funding Qaida-Linked Fighters
Hizbullah has reportedly supervised and funded fighters planning to target U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab of Emirates and Jordan.
Sources told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Sunday that there is new evidence proving Iran's involvement with al-Qaida and Nusra Front after Tehran embraced a number of fighters scheming to attack U.S. interests in Riyadh, Dubai and Amman.
The sources pointed out that the fighters have been moving through Iranian cities, including Tehran, Mashhad and Zahdan, while Hizbullah supervised their training and pledged to fund them.
Asharq al-Awsat revealed that Saudi national Saleh al-Qarawi, the former leader of the Qaida-linked Abdullah Azzam Brigades, is running al-Qaida's operations from Iran.
Qarawi, who is also known as “Najm al-Kheir,” planned with Saudi national Abdul Mohsen al-Sharekh, one of al-Nusra's top strategists and an al-Qaida facilitator in Syria, to kidnap foreigners in Saudi Arabia but they didn't carry out their scheme.
Al-Sharekh is one of Saudi Arabia's most wanted terrorists, he has previously served in al-Qaida’s Iran-based network and as a key financial facilitator for al-Qaida in Pakistan. The United States and United Nations recently imposed sanctions on him.
Qarawi also planned with other accomplices to target U.S. interests in Saudi Arabia and the bombing of a U.S. base in Jordan.
According to the daily, a Jordanian identified with his first name “Firas” suggested on Qarawi to target a U.S. compound and three vehicles but the operation failed after Amman security forces busted the scheme.
Qarawi also voiced support to a plan to target the U.S. embassy in Dubai by a drone or a suicide bomber flying a training jet, but the operation also failed.
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