Posted on 03/22/2003 3:55:43 PM PST by gaucho
Milan, Italy : Corriere della Sera in Italian 19 Mar 03 p 14 [Report by Guido Olimpio : "Cell Ready To Cross Over Into Iran To Flee US Attack"]
Nicosia -- When Secretary of State Colin Powell presented the evidence against Iraq to the United Nations on 5 February , he referred to the role played by Abu-Musab al-Zarkawi. It was the Jordanian terrorist with links to al-Qa'ida who was liaising with the Kurdish al-Ansar faction. Al-Zarkawi, US intelligence claimed, was hiding out right there in Kurdistan , in the camp close to the town of Hallabja . At that time, however, the extremist was a long way away from his hideout. "He was in Syria ," a Kurdish source with whom we have spoken in Cyprus said. "The local secret services caught up with him and, although he is on the wanted list, they persuaded him to clear out, and at the very earliest." Al-Qa'ida 's man in the Middle East then moved to Lebanon , crossing the border in a dark vehicle, and vanished among the hills of al-Bakaa'. Al-Zarkawi was in a great hurry. "He is engaged in reorganizing the men for a likely terrorist operation, and he has sent an envoy of his into the refugee camps in Lebanon to mobilize a number of activists," our source went on. But the al-Qa'ida officer has called, from the southern outskirts of Beirut , where he has safe houses at his disposal, on al-Ansar al-Islamiya to make ready.
The Islamic Kurds have shored up their positions, asking the Iranians for help. The border is not far away, and anyway, as far as they are concerned, it might just as well not exist. "They have set up bases on Iranian soil with the help of the pro-Khome'ini pasdaran," our source continued. If the United States attacks, the peshmerga will cross the frontier. It is in these posts, which the Vevak (the ayatollahs' secret police) are keeping under surveillance from a distance, that al-Ansar's new recruits are trained. There are al-Qa'ida instructors to train them, a few Arabs and a lot of Kurds who fought in Afghanistan . "Volunteers are coming in from the Middle East , and from Europe as well," our source confirmed. Teheran 's secret agents are laying on weapons , ammunition, clean identity papers, and contacts. They have recently set up a camp hospital.
The ayatollahs' cover has been extended to al-Zarkawi's network as well. The terrorists are using Teheran and Damascus airports, which are well served with flights to and from Europe and the main Gulf cities. The investigators believe al-Qa'ida is training mixed nuclei of al-Ansar militiamen and mujahiddin already living in Europe . The leaders of the Islamic Kurdish group have stepped up their operational liaison operation with Iranian intelligence since the fall .Nizar Salah Muhammad , al-Ansar's paymaster, held a secret meeting with Rahim al-Safawi, the influential chief of the pasdaran, on 28 November . Other talks have been held in the provinces of Kermanshah and Merivan , where the Kurds have received help from two special guardian units, " Ramadan " and "Nasr." But what is the strategic design? Al-Qa'ida and the Iranian radicals, albeit divided by hostilities, are hoping that the US expedition in Iraq will turn into a latter-day Vietnam . And they will target the Marines when the time is ripe.
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