The Middle East Newsline has confirmed the Hezbollah network in Egypt planned to train its recruits in suicide bombing tactics in Sudan and in other countries in the Middle East.

Egyptian security sources report that Hezbollah operatives told interrogators the network worked to send scores of recruits for training in Lebanon, Libya, Sudan and Syria. Hezbollah had prepared training areas and instructors for these Egyptian recruits.

“The issue is much bigger than Hezbollah,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu al-Gheit said. “It is an attempt to harm Egypt’s interests and twist its policy.”

So far, Egypt has identified at least 49 suspected members of the Hezbollah network. The sources said the network numbered 100 members, with about a quarter of them hiding in the Sinai Peninsula.

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The Egyptian daily newspaper al-Masri al-Yom reported that two of the detainees detailed a Hezbollah plot to conduct a major terror attack in Tel Aviv.

Mohammed Ramadan Abdul Fatah Baraka and Nadal Hassan were identified as members of the Fatah movement who infiltrated Egypt from the Gaza Strip and settled in al-Arish, Egypt.

Hezbollah planned to send Baraka and Hassan to Sudan for training in suicide strikes. From Sudan, the sources said, the two Palestinians had been scheduled to fly to Syria and Lebanon.

Hezbollah recruits were told to report to Libya for intelligence training, but the sources said some of the recruits were unable to enter the North African country.

These Palestinian terrorists were said to have been recruited by the Hezbollah network in Egypt in 2008. After their recruitment, Baraka and Hassan returned to the Gaza Strip and months later infiltrated Sinai before agreeing to participate in the suicide attack.

Egypt has determined the Hezbollah effort was directed and financed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Officials said Tehran has deemed Hezbollah a vital asset in Iran’s strategy to destabilize pro-U.S. regimes in the Middle East.

“Iran’s relationship with Hezbollah has gone beyond the stage of solid ties to a close relationship that has resulted in long-term military cooperation in addition to security and intelligence cooperation,” Egyptian security analyst [Ret.] Maj. Gen. Sameh Saif al-Yazal said.

David Bedein can be reached at dbedein@israelbehindthenews.com

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David Bedein
David Bedein is an MSW community organizer and an investigative journalist.   In 1987, Bedein established the Israel Resource News Agency at Beit Agron to accompany foreign journalists in their coverage of Israel, to balance the media lobbies established by the PLO and their allies.   Mr. Bedein has reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times, BBC and The Jerusalem Post, For four years, Mr. Bedein acted as the Middle East correspondent for The Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. Bedein has covered breaking Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna. Bedein has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, and the New Israel Fund.   Since 2005, Bedein has also served as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.   A focus of the center's investigations is The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In that context, Bedein authored Roadblock to Peace: How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict - UNRWA Policies Reconsidered, which caps Bedein's 28 years of investigations of UNRWA. The Center for Near East Policy Research has been instrumental in reaching elected officials, decision makers and journalists, commissioning studies, reports, news stories and films. In 2009, the center began decided to produce short movies, in addition to monographs, to film every aspect of UNRWA education in a clear and cogent fashion.   The center has so far produced seven short documentary pieces n UNRWA which have received international acclaim and recognition, showing how which UNRWA promotes anti-Semitism and incitement to violence in their education'   In sum, Bedein has pioneered The UNRWA Reform Initiative, a strategy which calls for donor nations to insist on reasonable reforms of UNRWA. Bedein and his team of experts provide timely briefings to members to legislative bodies world wide, bringing the results of his investigations to donor nations, while demanding reforms based on transparency, refugee resettlement and the demand that terrorists be removed from the UNRWA schools and UNRWA payroll.   Bedein's work can be found at: www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com and www.cfnepr.com. A new site,unrwa-monitor.com, will be launched very soon.