The Potential for a Hezbollah-al Qaeda Alliance of Convenience
By Douglas Farah
In the immediate aftermath of 9-11, the conventional wisdom in the intelligence community was that the Shi'ite Hezbollah and the Sunni al Qaeda did not operate together because of the religious divide between the two groups.
However, al Qaeda's own writings, and testimony of senior al Qaeda operatives in U.S. custody (Jamal al Fadl) recounted the extensive contacts bewtween the two organizations while bin Laden was in Sudan, including joint military and explosives training.
It has taken the conventional wisdom a long time to catch up with reality on the ground, but it is important to remember that things that were often considered inconceivable in the shadow infrastructure of non-state actors were simply based on our preconceptions, not reality.
If the Lebanese conflict drags on, it would be likely that al Qaeda would try to work again with its occassional ally in an alliance of convenience that could benefit both groups. My full blog is here..
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