Saturday, March 17, 2007
Iraqi security sources - Mahdi Army members continue to train in Iran
Security
(Al Sharqiyah TV) - Iraqi security sources said that hundreds of Al-Mahdi Army members continue to receive training in the Kermanshah area in western Iran with the participation of a group of Al-Mahdi Army commanders who left Iraq for Iran six weeks ago. The sources said that the Iranian Revolution Guards Intelligence Unit and Al-Quds Operations Command asked Al-Mahdi Army to establish a command-in-waiting that would include new elements that are not publicly known, while maintaining the central command of Al-Mahdi Army militia.
The command-in-waiting will include young elements and other elements that are not wanted by Iraqi and US forces. The sources have mentioned the names of some commanders who have great influence within Al-Mahdi Army. The sources also mentioned the names of the publicly-known personalities in the Sadr Trend who are active in Iraq. Government sources repeatedly declined to give official information on the movement of Al-Mahdi Army in Iraq and Iran, thus making it difficult to verify the information coming from government and non-government sources at the same time.
The Iraqi government had in the past received a report on a training operation held in two Lebanese areas; namely, in Hirmil and Al-Nabi Shit, but Hezbollah denied any link to such training operations. The secret report presented to the Iraqi government by an Iraqi security agency said that the rumours about the training of Al-Mahdi Army in Lebanon led to discharging Hezbollah official Nawwaf al-Musawi, who was replaced by Hasan al-Rahal to coordinate the training operations in Lebanon.
Labels: Hezbollah, Iran, Kermanshah, Mahdi Army, Quds Force
