Venezuela, Iran and Hezbollah - all hostile to the US - forge closer ties
A Hezbollah civil defense worker walks past a burned car at a car bomb in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013. (AP2013)
As Iran and Venezuela become increasingly isolated and sanctioned by the U.S and much of the international community, the two governments are said to be tightening their bond - with the help of Tehran's proxy group, Hezbollah, in the middle of the action.
"Training between Iran and Venezuela has increased in the past few years as part of a larger plan between the Venezuelan regime, consisting of increasing the number of Hezbollah operatives and their supporters across Latin America,” Johan Obdola, President of the Canada-based Global Organization for Intelligence (IOSI) and former counter-narcotics chief in Venezuela, told Fox News. “(Hassan) Rouhani and (Nicolas) Maduro have established a very firm and close relationship, which was of course initiated by (Hugo) Chavez.”
Venezuela’s connections to Iran – and by default its proxy militia, Hezbollah – go back more than a decade. Hezbollah, which translates to “The Party of God,” is an Iran-backed, Shiite-dominant political and military group that began in Lebanon in 1982, following the Israeli occupation. It was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S State Department in 1997.
But perhaps most crucially, according to analysts and experts, is that Iran and Hezbollah are said to provide “strategic advice” to the Venezuelan regime “for safe keeping.”
“It has been proven that the Venezuelan government has ties to international terrorist groups. Therefore, what it is being requested is that the Venezuelan government be recognized as such; a regime that has brought the Venezuelan State to a failed status,” said former political prisoner and mayor of Caracas, Antonio Ledezma. “It is a rogue state. This is due to its ties with the drug traffic, due to its engagement in human rights violations, and because of its ties to international terrorism.”
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