Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Abdullah Shallah operates out of Damascus with impunity, along with deputies such as Ziad Nakhala.One of Shallah's deputies, Akram Ajuri, supervises Islamic Jihad terrorist activities in the West Bank from Damascus, maintaining direct contact with West Bank operatives.
PFLP-GC operatives have been training members of al-Aqsa, Islamic Jihad, and other Palestinian terrorist groups in PFLP-GC camps near Damascus.
Even as Damascus provided intelligence that prevented a terrorist attack on the US Navy's Administrative Support Unit in Bahrain, President Assad's tightly run police state both increased its support for groups like Hezbollah and tolerated al-Qaeda's use of Syrian territory as a base of operations. Indeed, in early April, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage commented that Syrian help regarding al-Qaeda "has lately ebbed."[27] In early May, Cofer Black, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism, seconded this assessment, acknowledging, "We clearly don't have the full support of the Syrian government on the al-Qaeda problem. They have allowed al-Qaeda personnel to come in and virtually settle in Syria with their knowledge and their support."[28]
Moreover, according to Italian prosecutors, "Syria has functioned as a hub for an al-Qaeda network" linked to prominent al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.[29] Transcripts of operatives' conversations - first revealed in the Los Angeles Times - "paint a detailed picture of overseers in Syria coordinating the movement of recruits and money" between cells in Europe and Ansar al-Islam training camps in northern Iraq.[30] The cell being prosecuted in Italy is accused of sending about forty al-Qaeda recruits to Ansar camps via Syria in an effort to create a post-Afghanistan base of operations for al-Qaeda. The cell's leaders in Syria facilitated the recruits' travel and provided their funding, while the European members gave false travel documents to recruits and fugitives and monitored their travel. At least some of the recruits traveling to the Ansar camps stayed at the Ragdan Hotel in Aleppo for some time and later stopped in Damascus. Indeed, the Italian investigation revealed that al-Qaeda operatives in Europe were acting at the instruction of superiors in and around Damascus and Aleppo, including "Mullah Fuad" (described as the "gatekeeper in Syria for volunteers intent on reaching Iraq"), "Abdullah," and "Abderrazak." For example, in one conversation, an operative assures a comrade that sending money via Fuad is safe, saying, "I have sent so many transfers to Mullah Fuad and they always got there, no problem."[31] In another conversation, a senior operative assures his subordinate about funding, saying, "Don't ever worry about money, because Saudi Arabia's money is your money."[32]
Since Assad inherited the presidency from his father, Hezbollah has moved energetically into the Palestinian arena, both by sending its own operatives to attempt terrorist attacks inside Israel and by establishing links with terrorist groups in the West Bank, Gaza, and among Israeli Arabs. For example, in June 2002, Israeli authorities conducting a search in Hebron arrested a Hezbollah operative who had entered the area on a Canadian passport. The arrest coincided with the discovery in Hebron of mines previously used only by Hezbollah in Lebanon.[37] In July 2002, Israeli authorities arrested Hussein Ali al-Khatib and Hatem Ahmad al-Khatib, two Syrians from the Golan Heights who, in addition to smuggling weapons and drugs, were spying on Israel and passing classified information to Hezbollah contacts.[38]
Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are more active in Syrian-controlled Lebanon than ever. Their activities have included recruiting, training, and dispatching a cell of Palestinians that killed seven Israelis in a cross-border raid on the northern Israeli community of Metsuba in March 2002.[39] According to senior US officials, Hezbollah leader Shaykh Hassan Nasrallah and Imad Mughniyeh are working together in planning terrorist attacks globally and across the UN-certified blue line separating Israel and Lebanon.[40] Asked if Syria would now allow Lebanon to "trace and hand over" Mughniyeh - who is prominently listed on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's "most wanted terrorist" list - to US authorities, Syrian spokeswoman Buthaina Shaaban recently responded, "I don't think this is the issue of the moment."[41]
Should i stop..I have several more pages of their Bullshit..they're an enemy.
