By: Reza Shafa
A year after the thirty-three day war in Lebanon, the role of the Iranian regime in this country remains a great concern. Tehran has substantially intensified efforts to fuel conflicts in this war torn nation.
In May, conflict between Lebanese army and a group known as Fatah Al-Islam near Nahar Al-Bared Camp in Tripoli, home to many Palestinian refugees, entered a new phase. The Fatah Al-Islam took positions in the camp, to fight with Lebanese army using civilians as human shields.
According to credible reports and intelligence received from within the Iranian regime and its Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Fatah Al-Islam has been created by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its subordinate, the Quds Force in 2005.
In 2006, it was formally introduced as a Palestinian Group operating out of Nahar Al-Bared Camp. In less than a year later, with logistical as well as ideological support from the Quds Force, it managed to build a few logistical and training camps of its own. Before the recent clashes with the Lebanese army, Fatah Al-Islam had more than 900 members.
Reports indicate that the Quds Force’s Intelligence Office commanders supervise the activities of the group closely.
One such commander is Ahmad Syeedi who works in the Iranian regime’s embassy in Beirut but his actual mission however is to coordinate terrorist activities in the region.
Quds Force holds its meetings for Fatah Al-Islam in west Beirut in a mosque called Rasull Al-Akaram in Ziyaheh District. There is a nearby hospital with the same name which is another meeting place for the group and the Quds Force. The two places are covers used by the Iranian regime meet and organize the group.
In addition, the IRGC runs a few other training camps in Lebanon for its local recruits; such as:
– Al Dabuseh near the Lebanese border with Syria
– Another camp in Al Masaneh
– In an area known as Al Manar there is a camp close to the Lebanese-Syrain border;
– Al Tofah in Lebanon;
– A camp in Nahar al Bared area
– A place near the road between Halab and Afren close to Turkish in Syria
There are other corroborating information about the IRGC holding briefings for the Lebanese groups with close ties to it in Al-Rameh Hospital near the city of Al-Manar. In this under ground facility, people from IRGC Intelligence Office prepare their operatives in Lebanon. Two other IRGC commanders named Haji Valli and Mohajiri hold briefings on regular basis in Lebanon aside from Syeedi.
What is amazing in all of this is the fact that the Quds Force has no fear for what it does in Lebanon. May be the time has come to put an end to its influence in whole of the Middle East, starting in Iraq.
Reza Shafa is an expert on the Iranian regime’s intelligence networks, both in Iran and abroad. He has done extensive research on VAVAK (MOIS), IRGC’s Intelligence Office, and Quds Force among others. Currently he is a contributor to NCRI website.
