Top Hezbollah Leader Captured in Iraq!

(Updated Below)
This is the most extensive evidence released by US officials to date on the Iranian Regime’s links to the terrorist insurgency in Iraq.

The US released information today on Ali Mussa Daqduq, the Hezbollah leader apprehended in Iraq, who is responsible for terrorist acts and is funded by the Iranian Regime.(MNF-I)

The Multi-National Force Iraq announced today that Hezbollah leader Ali Mussa Daqduq was captured in southern Iraq by Coalition Forces on March 20th of this year.

It’s going to be hard for Iran to deny military intervention in Iraq after this damning evidence…

U.S. military spokesman Brig. Gen. Kevin J. Bergner speaks during a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, July 2, 2007. Iran is using the Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah as a ‘proxy’ to arm Shiite militants in Iraq and Tehran’s elite Quds force helped militants carry out a January attack in Karbala in which five Americans were killed, Bergner said Monday. On the right is the image of a senior Lebanese Hezbollah operative, Ali Mussa Dakdouk, who was captured March 20, 2007, in southern Iraq. (AP Photo/Wathiq Khuzaie)

HotAir and CNN are reporting this amazing news story from Iraq:

A top special operations officer from Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah has been captured in Iraq, where U.S. officials say he played a key role in a January attack that killed five Americans.

Ali Mussa Daqduq, an explosives expert, was captured in March in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where he was helping train and lead Shiite militias fighting coalition troops, U.S. intelligence officials told CNN.

Daqduq pretended to be deaf and mute when captured, and his identity was not known for weeks, the officials said.

Once uncovered, however, they said he began to talk, and they now believe he played a crucial role in the January 20 attack in Karbala. Watch Michael Ware’s report on Daqduq »

Hezbollah fought Israeli troops in a month-long war in southern Lebanon in 2006, a conflict sparked by a cross-border raid in which Hezbollah fighters killed three Israeli soldiers and took two others captive. The conflict ended with a U.N.-brokered cease-fire, and the Israeli soldiers remained captive when the fighting ended.

Intelligence officials say Daqduq is one of Hezbollah’s top special operations commanders, an expert in the use of roadside bombs. The Americans say he, along with the Iraqi militia commanders he worked with, has admitted working with Iran’s elite Quds Force special operations unit.

U.S. commanders have said for months that Iraqi militants have been receiving weapons and training from members of the Quds Force, an element of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.


The false ID badges carried by Hezbollah leader Ali Mussa Daqduq when he was captured in Iraq. (MNF-I)

This is what Brig. Gen. Kevin Bergner had to say about Ali Mussa Daqduq during the press conference today:

Here’s what we learned about Ali Musa Daqduq:

– Joined the Lebanese Hizballah in 1983

– Served in numerous leadership positions

– Commanded a Hizballah special operations unit

– Coordinated protection of Hizballah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah

– Led Hizballah operations in large areas of Lebanon

In 2005, he was directed by senior Lebanese Hizballah leadership to go to Iran and work with the Quds Force to train Iraqi extremists.

In May 2006, he traveled to Tehran with Yussef Hashim, a fellow Lebanese Hizballah and head of their operations in Iraq. There they met with the Commander and Deputy Commander of the Iranian Quds Force Special External Operations.

He was directed by Iranian Quds Force to make trips in and out of Iraq and report on the training and operations of the Iraqi Special Groups.

In the year prior to his capture, Ali Musa Daqduq made four trips to Iraq. He monitored and reported on the training and arming of Special Groups in mortars and rockets, manufacturing and employment of improvised explosive devices and kidnapping operations. Most significantly, he was tasked to organize the Special Groups in ways that mirrored how Hizballah was organized in Lebanon.

He also helped Quds Force in training Iraqis inside Iran. Quds Force along with Hizballah instructors train approximately 20 to 60 Iraqis at a time sending them back to Iraq organized into these Special Groups. They are being taught how to use EFPs, mortars, rockets, as well as intelligence, sniper, and kidnapping operations.

In addition to training, the Quds force also supplies the Special Groups with weapons and funding of 750,000 to three million U.S. dollars a month. Without this support, these Special Groups would be hard pressed to conduct their operations in Iraq.

$750,000 to $3,000,000?… That’s a lot of jack!
This is the nail in the coffin against the Iranian Regime.
How will the mullahs explain their way out of this one?

How will the libs explain that Iraq is not the major front on the War on Terror now?

UPDATE: There is so much here that I missed this about the Khazali brothers. Qais Khaz’ali, as you may recall, was the spokesman for Moqtada Al-Sadr for a period after the invasion of Iraq:

Qayis Khaz’ali, who was captured with his brother Layith and Ali Musa Daqduq.

Qayis Khaz’ali was in charge of Special Groups throughout Iraq since June 2006, and his brother Layith Khaz’ali was a member of the Special Groups network. Both men are Iraqis and their pictures are shown here.

Here is some of what we now know about Qayis Khaz’ali and his work with Iranian Quds Force operatives.

– The Quds Force goal is to develop the Iraqi Special Groups into a network similar to the Lebanese Hizballah.

– Special Groups would be unable to conduct terrorist attacks in Iraq without Iranian supplied weapons and other support.

– Like Ali Musa Daqduq, Qayis Khazali’s main contact was Hajji Yusif, the Deputy Commander for the Quds Force Department of External Special Operations.

– Funding and training of the Special Groups started in 2004.

-The Quds Force supplies Special Groups with EFPs, machine guns, rockets, sniper rifles, rocket propelled grenades and IEDs.

– Iraqi Special Groups are trained in one of three training camps inside Iran and are operated by the Quds Force and supported by Lebanese Hizballah operatives.

When Qayis Khazali was captured, we found an in-depth planning and lessons-learned document. It was about the attack the Special Groups conducted against the Karbala Provincial Joint Coordination Center on January 20th. This 22-page document provides a unique window into the planning and execution of Special Group operations here in Iraq.

It is important to point out that both Ali Musa Daqduq and Qayis Khazali state that senior leadership within the Quds force knew of and supported planning for the eventual Karbala attack that killed five coalition soldiers. Ali Musa Daqduq contends the Iraqi Special Groups could not have conducted this complex operation without the support and direction of the Quds Force.

Ya Libnan has more on the Hezbollah prisoners.

The Strata-Sphere has more on Iraq.

Previously:
Blonde English-Speaking Terrorists Operating in Iraq
English Speaking Al Sadr Spokesman Arrested For Killing 5 US Soldiers
Arrested Former Al-Sadr Spokesman Qais Khazaali Trained in Iran
Al Sadr Loyalists Call For Release of Arrested US Soldier Killers

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Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.

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Thanks for sharing!