< < Back to Start of Article The Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization, one of the world's most formidable terrorist groups, is increasingly teaming up with Al Qaeda on logistics and training for terrorist operations, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials and terrorism experts. . The new cooperation is ad hoc and tactical and involves mid- and low-level operatives. It mutes years of rivalry between Hezbollah, which draws its support primarily from Shiite Muslims, and Al Qaeda, which is predominantly Sunni. It includes coordination on explosives and tactics training, money laundering, weapons smuggling and acquiring forged documents, according to knowledgeable sources. . This new alliance, even if informal, has greatly concerned U.S. officials in Washington and intelligence operatives abroad who believe the assets and organization of Hezbollah's formidable militant wing will enable a hobbled Qaeda network to increase its ability to launch attacks against U.S. targets. . Hezbollah, which was founded by Lebanese clerics in 1982, 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, Hezbollah has never targeted Americans on U.S. soil. But its operatives have killed nearly 300 Americans overseas in the last 20 years, including 241 service members in a Marine barracks in Beirut. . The new collaboration illustrates what analysts say is an evolving pattern of decentralized alliances between terrorist groups and cells that share enough of the same goals to find common ground: crippling the United States and forcing the U.S. military out of the Middle East and Israel out of Palestinian territory. . "There's a convergence of objectives," said Steven Simon, a former National Security Council terrorism expert. "There's something in the zeitgeist that is pretty well established now." . Although cooperation between Al Qaeda and Hezbollah may have been going on at some level for years, the U.S. war against Al Qaeda has hastened and deepened the relationship. U.S. officials believe that after Al Qaeda was driven from Afghanistan, its leader, Osama bin Laden, authorized his operatives to ally themselves with helpful Islamic-based groups, said an 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 Hezbollah 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 accessible with constantly changing passwords. The connections, intelligence officials believe, are made case by case, depending on the needs of local groups. . "When someone's traveling and needs assistance in passing through, whoever happens to have that capacity will be turned to," said Paul Pillar, former deputy director of the CIA counterterrorism center. . The chat rooms are set up to avoid detection. New recruits can enter only rooms where "holy war" against America or other general topics are discussed. Only trusted and vetted operatives can access chat rooms where specific deals are discussed. . Hezbollah's original goal was to create an Islamic state in Lebanon. For 18 years, with financial and intelligence support from Iran and Syria, the group fought to end Israel's military occupation of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. It attacked American targets in a bid to drive the United States from the country. . Hezbollah first devised suicide bombings as a terrorist tactic, and its successes inspired a generation of terrorists in the Middle East. . In 1983, a Hezbollah suicide bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans and 6 of the CIA's top Middle East experts. Six months later, two suicide bombers drove trucks into western military barracks in Lebanon, killing 58 French paratroopers in one and 241 American service members in the other - the largest peacetime loss ever for the U.S. military. It prompted President Ronald Reagan to withdraw American troops from the country. . In the mid-1980s, at Iran's behest, Hezbollah and its factions were responsible for kidnapping 18 Americans in Lebanon. They killed three, including William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut. Over the next decade, the United States alleged that Iranian intelligence officials, posing as diplomats, were involved in anti-U.S. and anti-Israel violence around the world. Hezbollah's intelligence officer, Imad Mughniyah, was implicated in the 1996 attack on Khobar Towers, the U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 U.S. servicemen were killed. . After Israel pulled out of Lebanon in May 2000, the political wing of Hezbollah wanted to focus exclusively on political activities and charitable work. Some intelligence officials believe Iran and Syria have dampened their support for Hezbollah's militant wing. Iran in particular, a senior U.S. intelligence official said, has tried to restrict Hezbollah's contacts with Al Qaeda for fear of being targeted in the U.S. war on terrorism. . There is little dispute that Al Qaeda and Hezbollah operatives work together, but some analysts reject the notion that the two groups have buried their differences, which have long been sharp because they are based on the two competing branches of Islam. "I just don't see it," said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist at the Congressional Research Service. "There's not a lot of commonality there." . Although all of Hezbollah's attacks have taken place overseas, the FBI is investigating close to a dozen Hezbollah groups in the United States. Their overt purpose is to raise money for Lebanese charities. . In the United States, Hezbollah's "objective is to facilitate illegal funding," sometimes through sophisticated cyber-crimes, said Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate's intelligence committee. He added, "Today they aren't here plotting to blow up anything. They are in a support role." . But a recent criminal court case in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which eight defendants pleaded guilty and two were found guilty by a jury, showed how one Hezbollah cell involved in cigarette smuggling conspired to aid the organization as a whole. One of the men, Mohamad Hammoud, was caught on wiretaps speaking on the phone with Hezbollah's military commander in Lebanon, Sheikh Abbas Harake. . Court documents from the United States and Canada say Hezbollah members in both countries have tried to procure military equipment, including laser range finders, aircraft-analysis software, global positioning gear, night-vision goggles, blasting equipment and mine-detection machinery, for fighters in Lebanon. . U.S. 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 U.S. soil. . "It gives you an infrastructure you can potentially build on," Pillar said. That is what analysts believe happened in 1996, when Hezbollah, which had longtime financial and logistics networks in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, bombed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization, one of the world's most formidable terrorist groups, is increasingly teaming up with Al Qaeda on logistics and training for terrorist operations, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials and terrorism experts. . The new cooperation is ad hoc and tactical and involves mid- and low-level operatives. It mutes years of rivalry between Hezbollah, which draws its support primarily from Shiite Muslims, and Al Qaeda, which is predominantly Sunni. It includes coordination on explosives and tactics training, money laundering, weapons smuggling and acquiring forged documents, according to knowledgeable sources. . This new alliance, even if informal, has greatly concerned U.S. officials in Washington and intelligence operatives abroad who believe the assets and organization of Hezbollah's formidable militant wing will enable a hobbled Qaeda network to increase its ability to launch attacks against U.S. targets. . Hezbollah, which was founded by Lebanese clerics in 1982, 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, Hezbollah has never targeted Americans on U.S. soil. But its operatives have killed nearly 300 Americans overseas in the last 20 years, including 241 service members in a Marine barracks in Beirut. . The new collaboration illustrates what analysts say is an evolving pattern of decentralized alliances between terrorist groups and cells that share enough of the same goals to find common ground: crippling the United States and forcing the U.S. military out of the Middle East and Israel out of Palestinian territory. . "There's a convergence of objectives," said Steven Simon, a former National Security Council terrorism expert. "There's something in the zeitgeist that is pretty well established now." . Although cooperation between Al Qaeda and Hezbollah may have been going on at some level for years, the U.S. war against Al Qaeda has hastened and deepened the relationship. U.S. officials believe that after Al Qaeda was driven from Afghanistan, its leader, Osama bin Laden, authorized his operatives to ally themselves with helpful Islamic-based groups, said an 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 Hezbollah 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 accessible with constantly changing passwords. The connections, intelligence officials believe, are made case by case, depending on the needs of local groups. . "When someone's traveling and needs assistance in passing through, whoever happens to have that capacity will be turned to," said Paul Pillar, former deputy director of the CIA counterterrorism center. . The chat rooms are set up to avoid detection. New recruits can enter only rooms where "holy war" against America or other general topics are discussed. Only trusted and vetted operatives can access chat rooms where specific deals are discussed. . Hezbollah's original goal was to create an Islamic state in Lebanon. For 18 years, with financial and intelligence support from Iran and Syria, the group fought to end Israel's military occupation of a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. It attacked American targets in a bid to drive the United States from the country. . Hezbollah first devised suicide bombings as a terrorist tactic, and its successes inspired a generation of terrorists in the Middle East. . In 1983, a Hezbollah suicide bomber attacked the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, including 17 Americans and 6 of the CIA's top Middle East experts. Six months later, two suicide bombers drove trucks into western military barracks in Lebanon, killing 58 French paratroopers in one and 241 American service members in the other - the largest peacetime loss ever for the U.S. military. It prompted President Ronald Reagan to withdraw American troops from the country. . In the mid-1980s, at Iran's behest, Hezbollah and its factions were responsible for kidnapping 18 Americans in Lebanon. They killed three, including William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut. Over the next decade, the United States alleged that Iranian intelligence officials, posing as diplomats, were involved in anti-U.S. and anti-Israel violence around the world. Hezbollah's intelligence officer, Imad Mughniyah, was implicated in the 1996 attack on Khobar Towers, the U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia, in which 19 U.S. servicemen were killed. . After Israel pulled out of Lebanon in May 2000, the political wing of Hezbollah wanted to focus exclusively on political activities and charitable work. Some intelligence officials believe Iran and Syria have dampened their support for Hezbollah's militant wing. Iran in particular, a senior U.S. intelligence official said, has tried to restrict Hezbollah's contacts with Al Qaeda for fear of being targeted in the U.S. war on terrorism. . There is little dispute that Al Qaeda and Hezbollah operatives work together, but some analysts reject the notion that the two groups have buried their differences, which have long been sharp because they are based on the two competing branches of Islam. "I just don't see it," said Kenneth Katzman, a Middle East specialist at the Congressional Research Service. "There's not a lot of commonality there." . Although all of Hezbollah's attacks have taken place overseas, the FBI is investigating close to a dozen Hezbollah groups in the United States. Their overt purpose is to raise money for Lebanese charities. . In the United States, Hezbollah's "objective is to facilitate illegal funding," sometimes through sophisticated cyber-crimes, said Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate's intelligence committee. He added, "Today they aren't here plotting to blow up anything. They are in a support role." . But a recent criminal court case in Charlotte, North Carolina, in which eight defendants pleaded guilty and two were found guilty by a jury, showed how one Hezbollah cell involved in cigarette smuggling conspired to aid the organization as a whole. One of the men, Mohamad Hammoud, was caught on wiretaps speaking on the phone with Hezbollah's military commander in Lebanon, Sheikh Abbas Harake. . Court documents from the United States and Canada say Hezbollah members in both countries have tried to procure military equipment, including laser range finders, aircraft-analysis software, global positioning gear, night-vision goggles, blasting equipment and mine-detection machinery, for fighters in Lebanon. . U.S. 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 U.S. soil. . "It gives you an infrastructure you can potentially build on," Pillar said. That is what analysts believe happened in 1996, when Hezbollah, which had longtime financial and logistics networks in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina, bombed the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires. The Lebanon-based Hezbollah organization, one of the world's most formidable terrorist groups, is increasingly teaming up with Al Qaeda on logistics and training for terrorist operations, according to U.S. and European intelligence officials and terrorism experts. . The new cooperation is ad hoc and tactical and involves mid- and low-level operatives. It mutes years of rivalry between Hezbollah, which draws its support primarily from Shiite Muslims, and Al Qaeda, which is predominantly Sunni. It includes coordination on explosives and tactics training, money laundering, weapons smuggling and acquiring forged documents, according to knowledgeable sources. . This new alliance, even if informal, has greatly concerned U.S. officials in Washington and intelligence operatives abroad who believe the assets and organization of Hezbollah's formidable militant wing will enable a hobbled Qaeda network to increase its ability to launch attacks against U.S. targets. .