Al Qaeda finds ally in Hizbollah

This new alliance, even if informal, has greatly concerned US officials in Washington and intelligence operatives abroad who believe the assets and organisation of Hizbollah’s formidable militant wing will enable a Al Qaeda to increase its ability to launch attacks against US targets.

Hizbollah has two wings. One is political and social, and its vibrant political party holds nine seats in the Lebanese Parliament. The other wing is a guerrilla military force. Unlike Al Qaeda, Hizbollah has never targeted Americans on US soil. But its operatives have killed some 300 Americans overseas in the 20 years, including 241 service members in a Marine barracks in Lebanon.

The concerns over the new partnership have reached the Senate and House intelligence committees’ chairmen and vice chairmen, who are regularly briefed by CIA and FBI.

‘‘There’s a convergence of objectives,’’ said Steven Simon, a former National Security Council terrorism expert. Although cooperation between Al Qaeda and Hizbollah may have been going on at some level for years, the US war against Al Qaeda has hastened and deepened the relationship. US officials believe that after Al Qaeda was driven from Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden sanctioned his operatives to ally themselves with Islamic-based groups, said a senior administration official.

Bin Laden or his top associates have used the Internet to convey this message, the official added. There is ‘‘no doubt at all’’ that Hizbollah and Al Qaeda have communicated on logistical matters, the official said. Loose partnerships are being facilitated by members’ ability to communicate using Internet chat rooms.

The connections, intelligence officials believe, are made case by case, depending on the needs of a particular local group. Hizbollah’s original goal was to create an Islamic state in Lebanon.

There’s little dispute that Al Qaeda and Hizbollah operatives work together, but some analysts reject the notion that the two groups have buried their differences, which have long been sharp because they derive their support from the two competing branches of Islam.

‘‘I just don’t see it,’’ said Kenneth Katzman, a West Asia specialist at the Congressional Research Service. ‘‘There’s not a lot of commonality there.’’ US law enforcement officials and terrorism experts fear the infrastructure and personal relationships established to facilitate illicit arms and document purchases could easily be used to launch attacks on US soil.

(LATWP)