U.S. allying with Hezbollah?

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BEIRUT, Lebanon -- The Party of God, better known as the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah, wants to pursue a “common enemies” approach with the United States in an effort to halt the spread of al-Qaida in the Middle East, sources close to the Hezbollah leadership tell Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

This prospect seems to bolster recently published reports that Hezbollah, which the U.S. officially regards as a terrorist organization, has been making “indirect” soundings through the British of this prospect.

One report quotes senior British diplomatic sources as telling the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai that British diplomats have been holding discussions with leaders of the Lebanese group and conveying the results to the Americans.

Sources close to Hezbollah tell WND, however, that some of the contacts have been “direct” and that the resistance group is prepared to work with the U.S. to eliminate the “common enemy” of al-Qaida, which these officials regard as a greater threat to Lebanon than neighboring Israel.

For its part, Israel increasingly appears to be siding with Saudi Arabia because it, like the Saudi Kingdom, regards Iran as its common enemy. With that has come the perception from Hezbollah that Israel backs the Saudi-backed al-Qaida elements in Syria and Lebanon.

Both Israel and Saudi Arabia oppose the recent nuclear deal with Iran. They believe Iran’s nuclear program is a cover to make nuclear weapons.

The agreement on Iran’s nuclear program immediately lessens international sanctions on Iran and unfreezes billions of dollars of its currency reserves held in other countries. In exchange, Iran agreed to partially freeze its nuclear development program. It is an interim agreement for six months, when yet another round of meetings is scheduled to come up with a permanent solution.

The interim agreement with Iran was negotiated by the so-called P5+1 countries, or the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council comprising the U.S., Russia, China, France, Great Britain plus Germany.

Lukewarm U.S. support for the opposition in Syria against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, which Hezbollah is backing militarily, is due to mounting concerns that the Syrian opposition has become infiltrated with al-Qaida to the point that most assistance would go to al-Qaida elements, such as the Jabhat al-Nusra.

This prospect has been reinforced by information WND has received from a reliable source that the weapons at the compound of Brig. Gen. Salim Idriss, the military leader of the Syrian opposition’s Free Syrian Army, were taken by force by al-Qaida elements a few nights ago.

According to this information, the raid by al-Qaida elements took place at 3 a.m., and all the arms sent by the West that were stored at the compound were taken. The amount was said to be “considerable.”

“Well, AQ (al-Qaida) is taking over now ... the same groups that Idriss was supplying weapons to under the table, are the ones that visited him last night and stripped his entire armory away,” the source said.

“If Syria collapses with al-Qaida, forget Afghanistan and Iraq,” the source added. “Syria will be 20 times stronger and deadlier to the region and the West. Not even (Syrian President Bashar) al-Assad can contain them.”

Al-Qaida in Syria and Lebanon have made it clear that they want to create a rigid Islamist caliphate based on the Wahhabi beliefs as espoused by Saudi Arabia. This puts al-Qaida in direct opposition to Hezbollah.

The Saudis have been providing financial and logistical support to the Sunni Islamist fighters in an effort to oust al-Assad.

Using Syria as a base, al-Qaida has begun to launch attacks against Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, placing Ankara at greater odds with Riyadh, which is providing support to these foreign Islamist militant fighters.

In addition, al-Qaida is using Syria as a base from which to launch attacks into neighboring Iraq, whose prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is Shi’ite and has close ties with Iran.

Informed sources tell WND that Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan, at the direction of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, is spearheading the effort to arm and finance the foreign fighters.

These Sunni Islamist fighters are flooding into Syria from the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North Africa, with their own goal of setting up caliphates under strict Shariah law throughout the Middle East.

Prince Bandar, who was close to the family of George H.W. Bush, is known as “Bandar Bush.” He is the point man for what sources say is a vast Saudi effort to covertly undermine Iranian power (including Tehran’s ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad) and has created a force of Islamist militant fighters affiliated with al-Qaida to do just that.

To carry out his covert efforts, Bandar has created some intriguing unwritten alliances.

In the spirit of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," the Saudi Prince, who also heads Saudi intelligence and is head of the Saudi National Security Council, has become what one Middle East observer has called the de facto anti-Iran ally of Israel.

“They are 'curiously united,'" according to historian Robert Lacey, who is author of “Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia.”

“Bandar is a man with chutzpah,” Lacey said.

Read more details in this week's edition of Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

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