While our top officials continue to temporize over whether the Iranian Government is really responsible for acts of war committed by its own Revolutionary Guards Corps and Qods Force, Iran’s forward terrorist militia, Hezbollah, is quite clear about who is calling the shots.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released this excerpt from an interview of Naim Kassem, Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General, broadcast last week by Iran’s Arabic language TV:
For many years, Hizbullah was careful not to implicate Iran in its terror operations. However, in a 15 April interview with the Iranian Arabic language TV station ‘al Qawthar’, Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Naim Kassem, told the interviewer that suicide bombings, terrorist attacks and even artillery barrages against Israeli civilians all receive prior approval from the Ayatollah’s in Teheran:
“The religious doctrine which dictates Hizbullah’s actions in general and those relating to the Jihad in particular, is based on the rulings of the spiritual leader in Teheran. The spiritual leader has the power to permit our actions, and the spiritual leader can forbid them.
“In order to know what is permitted and forbidden regarding the Jihad, we ask for and receive overall permission and only then do we carry out the operation.
“Even with regard to the suicide bombings, no one is allowed to kill himself without religious authorization.
“Even the rocket attacks on Israel, against the civilian population [Aug 2006] … in order to apply pressure, even this required overall religious authorization.”
[Hat Tip: Steve Schippert (www.threatswatch.org)]