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July 26, 2006

Italy: Muslim Brotherhood Condemns Lebanon Peace Talks

Today, talks are taking place in Rome, to attempt to resolve the current crisis in Lebanon. 18 nations are represented, but as AKI noted yesterday, Iran and Syria have been conspicuously omitted from the invitation list.

Iran has repeatedly denied that it has been involved with the actions of Hizbollah, saying that these are exclusively the responsibility of Hassan Nasrallah. But Iran has been intrinsically involved with Hizbollah since the group was created in the early 1980s.

Iran's call for Sunni Arabs to support Hizbollah has been described as an "irresponsible madness" by Saudi Arabian foreign minister Saud al-Feisal. There are fears in the Middle East of a "Shiite Crescent" being formed in the region, including Lebanon, Iraq and Iran.

It has been suggested that strategically Syria has not been invited as Basher al-Assad's regime may be brought in to any peace decisions at a later date.

But today, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has issued a statement condemning the Rome conference, saying it is "an attempt to suppress Lebanese resistance to suit the interests of the Israeli state."

The group also criticised a term increasingly employed by US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, "New Middle East". The statement is signed by Mohammad Mahdi Akef, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

it reads: "It is evident that the Zionist war is aimed at destroying Arab resistance and conquer the Islamic world. The conference taking place today in Rome is an attempt to destroy the last hope of the Arab world."

Ms Rice will be at the talks, along with UN secretary general, Kofi Annan. Javier Solana, the EU foreign and security affairs chief, is expected to propose the formation of a rapid reaction force. He has said that such a force, with wide representation from countries including Arab states, would gain the greatest support from neighbouring countries.

The Sun states that already, teams of suicide bombers from Iran have started to make their way to Lebanon. We discussed this "suicide batallion" in May.

The group is called the Committee for the Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, and was founded by Iran's Revolutionary Guards in 2004, though officially it is independent of the Islamist regime.

In April the Guardian reported that the group had tried to recruit members from Britain, as holders of UK passports could enter Israel with ease.

The suicide army has at least 55,000 members, if its own figures are to be believed. There are women within its numbers. At recruitment, suicide volunteers can opt to blow up either Salman Rushdie, or Israel, or "the infidels occupying Iraq" (America).

The Sun quotes from a spokesperson from the group who calls himself Mohammadi, who states: "Two teams of 18 and nine have gone to Syria separately. They have been deployed on a voluntary basis in order to get to the areas of conflict (in Lebanon) in any way they can."

He claims that the volunteers speak Persian (Farsi) and Arabic and some can speak English.

Mohammad-Ali Samadi, a source from the group said: "The first two groups of esteshhadioun (volunteers of martyrdom) have already reached Lebanon. They have received adequate training to fight beside their Lebanese brothers. They will identify Zionist targets and attack them with actions of martyrdom."

The groups are said to be instructed to attempt to build up more recruits from within the region.

Keywords: Hezbolah, Hizbollah, Committee for the Commemoration of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign, Committee for the Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement, Headquarters to Commemorate the Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 26, 2006 7:08 AM

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