Jihad Tours

Hezbollah is now promoting itself via “Jihadi tours” of their facilities in southern Lebanon.  For about US$25, you can spend the day and see life size replicas of Hezbollah guerillas in battle simulation, view antitank missile batteries and hear the recorded voice of Hassan Nasrallah talking about the “success of the Islamic resistance” first created in 1982.  More than 400 students from the Lebanese American University attended an inaugural tour in May. The militants showed their wide eyed guests how to fire rockets and anti-aircraft missiles. “It’s surreal,” said a French student who took part in the tour. “It’s like Disneyland. I never expected to see such things.”

 Surreal indeed.  What’s next, Osama Bin Laden Summer Camp for Teens?  Oh wait, Al Qaeda is already running camps …

Aptly dubbed the ‘A-Team of Terrorism’ by former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, Hezbollah, prior to 9/11, was responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist group.  The mission of Hezbollah aka the Party of Allah is Jihad by whatever means necessary.  Have we forgotten the suicide bombing attacks on the U.S. Embassy and the Marine Barracks in Beirut, the hijacking of TWA 847, the bombing of the Khobar Tower in Saudi Arabia?

While Al Qaeda has since moved to the foreground, Hezbollah remains larger, better equipped and well organized through the support of two chief state sponsors of terrorism namely Iran and Syria.  Hezbollah depends on a wide variety of lucrative criminal enterprises, ranging from smuggling to fraud to drug and conflict diamond trade to raise additional money to support its activities.  Its cells operate across the globe in Europe, Africa, South and North America.

The Jihadi Tours are part of a continuing Hezbollah public relations campaign to try and add elements of legitimacy to their terrorist operations.    And while Israel remains their top rhetorical infidel, Hezbollah’s close term objective is the complete political control of Lebanon and their midterm goal is to establish a strategic entrance for overly sanctioned Iran into the Mediterranean and Europe.

2 Comments on “Jihad Tours”

• Suzy Deutsch on June 6th, 2010 at 11:17 am

  Outstanding again! A suggestion: can you submit your articles to the New York Times and the Economist? I think those 2 publications would be a great fit and enlarge your audience and impact. Objectively how this article is outstanding: FUNNY, effective, historical overview, current context, and intel on close term objective, midterm goal, with a well intentioned Israeli slap on the cheek for US to wake up, get informed! And all done in 4 PARAGRAPHS! Less words is definately more in the world of intelligence and security! Congrats on showing us how, AGAIN!

• Suzy Deutsch on June 6th, 2010 at 9:14 pm

  The legitimacy concept of terrorism and closed societies (the reality and implications) are 2 areas Americans could really use your thought leadership..