November 17, 2006

An Iran/Somalia Connection?

On the heels of my report on yesterday's 700 Club concerning the rise of the radical Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Somalia comes this story from London's Telegraph. According to the U.N., Iran has been supplying weapons to the ICU and supporting its jihad in Somalia.

Here's more:

A report compiled for the (UN) Security Council found that Iran is one of seven countries breaking a UN arms embargo by providing weapons to the Islamic radicals who control most of southern Somalia, including the capital, Mogadishu.

This influx of weapons increases the chances of a new regional war in the Horn of Africa. It also underlines the close ties which Somalia's Islamists, who style themselves the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts, have forged with radical regimes across the Muslim world, notably Syria and Iran.

The report found that 720 Somali fighters were sent to Lebanon in the summer to aid Hizbollah during the war with Israel. In return, Hizbollah dispatched five advisers to Somalia to provide advanced military training.

The flow of weapons into Somalia has "dramatically increased in terms of numbers of arms, frequency of delivery and weapons' sophistication", reads the 86-page report.

This is the first I've heard of Somali involvement in this summer's Israel/Hezbollah war. They obviously participated at the behest of Iran, which is just another indicator of the Islamic Republic's growing power and influence throughout the Muslim world.