Word: hizballah
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...Iran may avoid getting drawn into the conflict, but that doesn't mean Ahmadinejad isn't eager to exploit the moment to advance his popularity in the Arab and Islamic world. While other influential regional players like Saudi Arabia have tried to ease tensions by calling on Hizballah to show restraint, Ahmadinejad's comments have been aimed at raising the temperature. "Those who keep silent are complicit in the Zionist regime's barbarism," he said in a public speech, a jab at the refusal of Arab leaders to cheer on Hizballah. In an address the next day, he said...
...Iran's television networks, including its Arab-language station broadcast by satellite around the region, carried extensive images of Lebanese casualties and effusive coverage of Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrullah. "Ahmadinejad always considers it his role to crowd-please in the Islamic world," says Mohammad Atrianfar, editor of Shargh newspaper. "But this is rhetoric, not actual policy...
...Hizballah's key patrons, it's difficult to describe Iran as neutral in the unfolding conflict. Since the Ayatollah Khomeini launched Hizballah in the early eighties to spread Shia revolution, Western officials say Iran has kept contingents of Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon, the most strategic area outside its own borders where Tehran can exercise influence. Western diplomatic estimates of how many are there and where exactly they are vary, but several hundred Revolutionary Guards are believed to operate in the Hizballah-controlled Beqaa Valley, providing operational training to the movement's guerilla forces. For its part, Iran insists...
...intimate relationship between Iran and Hizballah has evolved since 2000, when Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon freed the militant group to expand the scope of its activities in the region. U.S. officials believe Iran has looked increasingly to Hizballah as a tool to thwart the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by encouraging the group to lend operational support to Hamas and Islamic Jihad...
...Syria's troop withdrawal from Lebanon last year has also reshaped Iran's dealings with Hizballah, analysts here say. Before the Syrian withdrawal, Iran and Damascus competed for influence through their various Lebanese proxies, but now Iran is finding it to easier to funnel its support for Hizballah via Damascus. "Iran and Syria are now standing behind each other," says Laylaz. "Their strategy is more unified." Does this mean that Iran micro-manages Hizballah or vets its major operations? "Hizballah sees the need to confer with Iran," says Atrianfar. "But it doesn't necessarily do so over tactics...