Jordan Missile Attacks: Al Qaeda & Hezbollah Working Together?
By Andrew Cochran
After reading the AP story on the Jordan attacks with some details of the use of Katyusha missiles by Hezbollah, I remembered that James Dunnigan reported the following on "StrategyPage.com" on August 5 (go to the continuation page): "The terrorist bombing in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on July 23rd was a wake up call for Egyptian counter-terrorism forces. The Egyptians soon discovered that Hezbollah and al Qaeda terrorists had taken up residence in the Sinai Peninsula. This had long been suspected by the Egyptians, but they believed the terrorists were mainly interested in supporting attacks against Israelis, especially in Gaza." True, a missile attack is not the usual MO for the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, or "Al Qaeda Organization in the Levant and Egypt" (tip to Terrorism Unveiled). But perhaps the attack is a sign of such collaboration, with the Brigades buying the missiles from new Hezbollah allies (but not necessarily the expertise in using them). If so, then Doug Farah's post on al Qaeda's cash position is all the more ominous for that region. See also Evan Kohlmann's July 26 post on the Azzam Brigades' ties to Al Zarqawi. Evan will be on MSNBC's "Countdown" tonight to discuss the attack.