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Iran's Borderline Provocations

Michael Ledeen points out that British newspapers are now publishing the news that Iran has set up terror camps to target the troops in Iraq.

A NETWORK of terror camps has been set up in Iran to train insurgents to kill coalition troops in Iraq.

Spy chiefs say al-Qaeda experts are giving three-week courses in planting roadside bombs, sniping and avoiding capture before, during and after attacks against troops.

British Special Forces are thought to know where the desert bases are and may be tracking insurgents who come and go.

Last night a senior intelligence source said: "The camps have been set up by an al-Qaeda splinter group from Iran's Revolutionary Guards."

They are thought to be responsible for at least three recent deaths in Al Amarah in Iraq.

Lance Cpl Allan Douglas - the 99th soldier to die in Iraq - was shot by a sniper and two paras were killed last month by an Iranian car bomb.

Tony Blair has warned Iran to stop supplying roadside bombs - but the traffic continues.

Ledeen wonders what the leaking of this old news foretells in Britain - whether it is an attempt to prepare the public for some sort of campaign against Iran, or an attempt to embarrass the British government about their inaction in responding militarily to the situation.

Meanwhile, on Israel's northern border, Iran has financed a series of watch towers the run the entire length of the border, some of them less than 100 yards away, reports Con Coughlin in the Telegraph.

"This is now Iran's front line with Israel," a senior Israeli military commander said. "The Iranians are using Hizbollah to spy on us so that they can collect information for future attacks. And there is very little we can do about it."

The Israeli military has reported a significant increase in Hizbollah activity in southern Lebanon since Syria came under intense international pressure to withdraw its forces from the area last year following the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Israeli military officers report that teams of Iran's Revolutionary Guards travel regularly to southern Lebanon to help train local Hizbollah fighters in terrorist tactics. Tensions between Iran and Israel have intensified dramatically since the election last summer of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's new leader. Israel has repeatedly threatened to take military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and the new Iranian government has responded by calling for Israel's destruction.

Senior Israeli military officers believe Iran is deliberately exploiting the power vacuum caused by Syria's withdrawal to intensify pressure on Israel's northern border.

Hizbollah is aware that Israel is keen to maintain friendly relations with the new government in Lebanon and believes it can act freely in southern Lebanon without provoking retaliatory strikes from Israel.

And how is this for bitter irony.

The situation is now regarded as so serious that many senior Israeli officers openly admit to missing the restraining influence of Syria over Hizbollah.

"When the Syrians were in Lebanon it was easy for us to control Hizbollah," said an officer with Israel's northern command. "If things got too tense we could put pressure on Damascus and the Syrians would act quickly to calm things down."

Although the Lebanese government technically controls the border area, its military is not considered strong enough to control Hizbollah, which takes its orders directly from Teheran

In recent weeks Hizbollah sent unmanned aircraft on reconnaissance missions over the border to photograph sensitive Israeli military installations. The spy planes returned to base before being detected by air defence systems.....

[Hat Tip: Regime Change Iran]

posted by Alcibiades @ 11:04 AM