Israel Matzav

Hezbullah spinoff threatens retaliation for US strike

The Iraqi Islamic terrorist group Ansar Allah has threatened to retaliate for the US air strike in Syrian territory last week by assassinating Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki.

Let's go to the videotape. A transcript follows and I'll have a comment after that.

Following are excerpts from a statement by an Iraqi militant group threatening to retaliate for the recent U.S. attack in Syria. The statement was broadcast on Al-Rai TV on November 2, 2008.

Anchor: A militant group calling itself “Ansar Allah” issued a statement, in which it vowed to retaliate for the American attack, which targeted the Sukariya village in the Bu Kamal area, killing eight civilians. The group sent a recording of the statement to Al-Rai TV, which is airing it, although it does not necessarily agree with its content. Al-Rai TV has reservations regarding any statement or act that threatens Iraqis, even if they belong to the army or the police.

Masked militant reads statement: [...] The arm of heresy has reached our brothers in Syria. From this place, from the Land of the Two Rivers, we vow before Allah and the Islamic nation to take vengeance for this cruel and infidel attack, which shed the blood of Muslims. By Allah, even if the fortresses of heresy in the land of the Muslims pound us to dust, we will not rest until the very last occupier leaves this land. From today, the Army of Ansar Allah will carry out organized and continuous operations against the armies of heresy and occupation and their supporters from among the Iraqi army and police.

As for you, oh government that supports the occupiers – we vow to fight you and assassinate your leaders, and first and foremost, the traveling peddler Nuri Al-Maliki, for your support and your justification for the actions of your benefactors, America and Israel.

By the way, Ansar Allah isn't just "a group calling itself Ansar Allah." It's a Hezbullah spinoff that claimed responsibility for the terror attack on the Buenos Aires Jewish community center in 1994.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:59 AM