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Al-Sharqiyah TV: 'Hundreds of Al-Mahdi Army Members Training in Iran'; Locations of Al-Mahdi Lebanese Hizballah Training Camps Revealed; Update: MNF-I: Arrests Made in Karbala "Raid"

A very interesting report from Iraq's Al-Sharqiyah Television (run by Sa'd al-Bazzaz, publisher of the Arabic-language daily Al-Zaman) offers the details behind why the Jaysh al-Mahdi rank and file are laying low and Muqtada and his top commanders have gone to ground. They're waiting the surge out and, with the help of the Iranians, reconfiguring JAM central command with members unknown to American and Iraqi forces.

Al-Mahdi Army Members Receive Training in Iran:

Within its 1100 GMT newscast on 15 March, Al-Sharqiyah reports: "Iraqi security sources said that hundreds of Al-Mahdi Army members continue to receive training in the Kermanshah area in western Iran with the participation of a group of Al-Mahdi Army commanders who left Iraq for Iran six weeks ago. The sources said that the Iranian Revolution Guards Intelligence Unit and Al-Quds Operations Command asked Al-Mahdi Army command to establish a command-in-waiting with the participation of new elements that are not publicly known, while maintaining the central command of Al-Mahdi Army militia. The command-in-waiting will consist of young elements and other elements that are not wanted by Iraqi and US forces."

"Meanwhile, Al-Mahdi Army commanders were instructed to take caution and not to stay in one place inside Iraq until the implementation of the security plan in Baghdad and other cities ends and until the new Al-Mahdi Army commanders complete their three-month training."

"The sources have mentioned the names of some commanders who have great influence within Al-Mahdi Army. Among these names, which could not be verified from independent or Al-Mahdi Army sources, are Walid al-Zamili, Mustafa al-Ya'qubi, Ali Kharsan, Awn Abd-al-Nabi, Hashim Abu-Raghif, Jabir Jabiri, Amar Muhaysan, Riyad al-Nuri, and Abbas al-Kufi, most of whom are outside Iraq at present, in addition to the known commanders of the sectors. The sources also mentioned the names of the publicly-known personalities in the Sadr Trend who are active in Iraq. Among these names are Abd-al-Zahra al-Suway'idi in Al-Sadr City; Salim Husayn and Hazim al-A'raji in Al-Karkh; Muhammad al-Zubaydi in Al-Rasafah; Ali Salim in Basra; and Abd-al-Razzaq al-Nadawi in Al-Diwaniyah. Government sources repeatedly declined to give official information on the movement of Al-Mahdi Army in Iraq and Iran, thus making it difficult to verify the information coming from government and non-government sources at the same time."

The Iraqi government had in the past received a report on a training operation held in two Lebanese areas; namely, in Hirmil and Al-Nabi Shit, but Hizballah denied any link to such training operations. The secret report presented to the Iraqi government by an Iraqi security agency said that the rumors about the training of Al-Mahdi Army in Lebanon led to discharging Hizballah official Nawwaf al-Musawi, who was replaced by Hasan al-Rahal to coordinate the training operations in Lebanon."

OSC/JN Bureau

You'll notice I boldfaced the names of two of the influential commanders said by Sharqiya to be "outside Iraq at present." The two, Riyad al-Nuri and Abbas al-Kufi, are also listed among the names of eleven top JAM leaders with connections to the IRGC that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked the Iranians to hide so they would not be arrested or killed by American forces. The plan is detailed in a January 14, 2007, letter signed by Maliki and bearing the official seal of the Iraqi Prime Minister's office.

A copy of the Maliki letter and Rick Francona's traslation is here.

My guess is that other of the top JAM commanders who left Iraq six weeks ago and are training the "hundreds of Al-Mahdi Army members" and building the Al-Mahdi command-in-waiting in Kermanshah are also among those eleven names.

Update: The Jaysh al-Mahdi isn't the only Shiite militia with members being trained by the Iranian Revolutioanry Guard Corps inside Iran. Alireza Jafarzadeh held a press conference in Manhattan yesterday revealing information on IRGC training of SCIRI's military arm, the Badr Organization. Iraq Slogger has the report.

And Rick Francona argues that part of Muqtada's strategy in not opposing the surge is to have the US military do his dirty work for him; elimination of Sunni extremists.

Update: Hot Air: AP - Mahdi Army fractures, defectors now loyal to Iran.

Assuming the Maliki letter is genuine, this development would indicate that the mullahs have opted out of the deal. Why? Maliki climbed down from the fence onto our side. Which leaves Muqtada, facing certain arrest or death if he returns to Iraq, with only one option - the once maverick, independent cleric is now the Iranian Seyyeds' poodle.

Update on Thursday, 3:54 pm, eastern: In the AP report that AllahPundit linked to, former Muqtada al-Sadr chief-spokesman Qais al-Khazaali is identified by two senior JAM commaders and "senior Iraqi government officials with access to intelligence reports prepared for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki" as the leader of the breakaway JAM faction that is being trained in Iran by the IRGC Quds Force.

And today comes this news from MNF-Iraq:

Over the past several days, Coalition forces in Basra and Hillah captured Qais Khazali, his brother Laith Khazali, and several other members of the Khazali network, an organization directly connected to the kidnapping and murder in January of five American soldiers in Karbala.

In the raid - believed by analysts to have been an Iranian facilitated operation to avenge American raids on Iranian "diplomatic" missions in Irbil and Baghdad - a group of a dozen gunmen in a convoy of five sports utility vehicles, speaking English, wearing U.S. military uniforms and carrying American weapons, infiltrated the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala. The attackers went straight for the American soldiers - shooting one to death - kidnapped four and later shot them to death when it became clear the soldiers could not be smuggled into Iran.

CNN reports that the U.S. military has not disclosed the evidence linking the Khazali faction to the Karbala raid but one US military official calls it "significant."

Update at 5:23 pm: Even the Sloggers are perplexed: Mahdi Army Fights, but on Whose Orders?

Update at 5:30 pm: "Significant" evidence? Definitely. The Blotter scoops:

Senior U.S. military sources tell ABC News that hard evidence linking the Khazalis to the Karbala raid, including the ID cards of several of the dead American soldiers, was recovered at the scene.

The coalition also found evidence linking the men to Iran and to an arms smuggling operation that included the high impact Explosively Formed Projectiles, or EFPs, according to U.S. officials.

The network's connection to Iran raises the question of whether the Karbala raid was designed to exchange the captive American soldiers for the Iranian officers arrested by U.S. forces in Irbil in December -- a plan that obviously went awry when the getaway vehicles were chased by Iraqi security, and the Americans were shot.

Posted 1:15 AM by Robert

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