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,'''' capacity." Members returned to Iraq after the coalition invasion in March 2003.
Page90f9
HEZBOLLAH (THE PARTY OF GOD) was created In 1982 after Israel invaded Lebanon. Hezbollah Is a
Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim group inspired by the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeinl. The organization is funded by Iraq. Syria also supports this group.
ANSAR AL-ISLAM is a Sunnl Muslim group of Iraqi Kurds and Arabs established in December 2001. It is
closely allied with al Qaeda and the terrorist network of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Intelligence reports
indicate that elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have provided safe haven and training
for Ansar ai-Islam members. Reports also say that Ansar ai-Islam and al Qaeda have crossed into Iraq
from Iran and Syria. Additionally, they suggest an Ansar ai-Islam tie with former members of Saddam
Hussein's Fedayeen paramilitary force. .
MAHDI ARMY. This is the armed militia group of the radical Shiite cleric, Moqtada al-Sadr. Intelligence
reportS say that Iran used Hezbollah to train and provide funds to Sadr's militia and may have also used
front companies to fund Sadr's attacks against coalition forces.
Sources: U.S. Intelligence and State Department reports, United Nations
GRAPHIC: Picture, CARNAGE. After the bombing of the U.N. headquarters In Baghdad. Two groups with
ties to Iran are suspected in the August 2003 attack. (GEERTVAN KESTEREN--AGENTUR FOCUS /
CONTACT)j 'Picture, HOLY MAN. Iran's Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told Iraqis they have no other choice"
but to rise up against U.S. forces there and drive them out. (VAHID SALEMI--AP); Picture, BEUEVERS.
Members of Iran's elite Revoutiomiry Guard Corps. In Iraq, reports say, the guard helped plan and
finance attacks on U.S.-led forces. (DAMIR SAGOU--REUTERS I CORBIS); Pictures: ALL HANDS. At
prayers in a Shiite shrine in Karbala (left). A customs office on the Iraq-Iran border displays "terrorist
"wanted" posters. (ABBAS--MAGNUMi HUSSEIN MALLA--AP); Pictures: TEHRAN TIES. Followers of
Moqtada al-Sadr (left); Abdul Azlz ai-Hakim (right, with glasses), the head of the Supreme CoiJncii of
Islamic Revolution in Iraq (PAOLO WOODS--ANZENBERGERj MURAD SEZER--AP); Picture, TARGET?
Intelligence reports linked two alleged plots to ~iII Paul Bremer, the top U.S. official In Baghdad, to
Iranian-backed groups. (GEERT VAN KESTEREN--AGEN11JR FOCUS I CONTACT); Picture, On the attack.
A member of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army preparing to fire a rocket-propelled 'grenade at an American
tank In Baghdad (KAELAlFORD--PANOS); Picture, Ansar ai-Islam fighters in Iraq (CHANG W. LEi;--THE
NEW YORK TIMES); Map, The 'lies to Tehran (U.S. intelligence and State Department reports, United
Nations; Rob cady--USN&WR)
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