"...officials say this is the most specific the U.S. has been about the size of Iran's assistance to Hezbollah..."

Link

Nukes & Spooks, here

"Buried in Thursday's annual State Department report on terrorism trends, which we blogged about yesterday, is an interesting little nugget about Iran's relationship with Hezbollah, the Lebanese Sh'ite Muslim group on the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations.

In a section of the report here, the State Department says that Iran provided $200 million in funding for Hezbollah in 2008, and trained 3,000 of its fighters in camps in Iran. We did a little calling around, and officials say this appears to be the most specific the U.S. government has been publicly about the size of the assistance that Iran provides Hezbollah.....

Hezbollah, which fought a bloody 2006 war with Israel, is of course more than an armed faction or a terrorist outfit. It also has an extensive social welfare organization, and is a political party that controls Cabinet posts in Beirut. And it's expected to do well in Lebanon's elections next month...."

Posted by G, Z, & or B at 4:04 PM


Hezbollah: US Praises Resistance Without Knowing it
Readers Number : 823

01/05/2009 Hezbollah commented on the recent US State Department’s annual “assessment of global terrorism” report, in which Hezbollah was implicated.
The Hezbollah statement says: “the US administration did not surprise us with its new but old accusations which we have always considered legions of honor. The US political terms do not include the term ‘resistance’ or any other relevant term, for animosity has been Washington’s approach to the free peoples and governments of the world for a long time. The persisting US hegemony, through which Washington gives itself the right to categorize peoples and governments as terrorists, only constitutes another proof on this administration’s persistent determination to be aggressive. However, when it speaks evil about Hezbollah, in fact it is praising the resistance party without knowing it. The value of Hezbollah is not in its effective techniques, but in its determination and commitment to rightful causes and its sense of deep responsibility to fight oppression, aggression and occupation.”