US:Hizbullah military training better than Iran's

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. Army report, based on interviews of Iranian-sponsored Shi'ite fighters, said Hizbullah was believed to provide better training and instruction than Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

The report, based on more than 28 U.S. intelligence documents, asserted that Iraqi Shi'ites preferred Hizbullah training in Lebanon rather than that of IRGC in Iran.

"Based on the accounts of multiple Iraqi militants that claimed to have been trained by Lebanese Hizbullah, the training in Lebanon is considered to be superior to the training conducting in Iran," the report, "Iranian Strategy in Iraq: Politics and Other Means," said. "Part of this assessment appears to be based on the fact that the instructors and students share Arabic as their native language and have an Arab cultural affinity."

Iraqi Shi'ite fighters, particularly those from the so-called Special Groups, were said to receive training in anti-aircraft missiles, anti-armor missiles, mortars, sniper skills, intelligence and management. The report said Hizbullah provides a course of up to four weeks on anti-armor missiles a German sniper rifle and intelligence. Iran was said to offer as 12-day course in the Russian-origin SA-7 shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile.

"Iraqi SG trainees do not like their Iranian trainers," the report, authored by Joseph Felter and Brian Fishman, said. "The Iranians do not show the SG trainees any respect and feel they are better than the SG trainees. The SG trainees like and respect the Lebanese Hizbullah trainers because the Lebanese trainers speak Arabic and treat the SG trainees with respect."

Shi'ite fighters captured over the last 18 months were quoted in the U.S. intelligence documents as describing training in Iran. The fighters said Hizbullah instructors, wearing uniforms different from those of the IRGC, briefed Special Groups operatives on ambush, stealth, discipline and demeanor.

At one point, the Hizbullah instructor showed a suicide bombing of the U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut in 1981. Hizbullah trainers also taught Shi'ites on how to avoid enemy fire, saying this was used by Palestinian insurgents against Israel.

"This is one of the specific events that gave the [detainee] impression that the instruction they received was developed mostly by LH [Lebanese Hizbullah] not IRGC," an intelligence report said.

The report said Hizbullah was probably training Iranian-sponsored fighters in Iraq as well. Felter and Fishman said Iran has concluded that Hizbullah shields Iran from charges of interference in Iraq.

"Employing the Lebanese Hizbullah trainers provides additional insulation and ameliorates the cultural tension between nationalist Iraqi militants and their Iranian sponsors," the report said.