Shiite Hezb'allah and Sunni Salafis sign accord

If I had a dime for every time some "expert" told us that the idea of Shia Iran working with Sunni al-Qaeda was preposterous because SUNNIS AND SHIAS HATE EACH OTHER AND WOULD NEVER WORK TOGETHER IN A MILLION YEARS!

My how time flies:

Amidst a growing world crisis, new developments in Lebanon may signal what lies ahead in the sphere of global jihadist forces in the near future. A memorandum of understanding has been signed by Hezbollah, the main pro-Iranian organization in the region, and a number of Salafist groups outlining efforts to "confront America."

Innocent minds may question how that impacts our lives. However, events that unfold in Beirut have a direct effect on the war on terror, or to be more precise, on the jihadist war on democracies. Here is why:

Frequent AT contributor Dr. Walid Phares is the author of this article, appearing in the Middle East Times. I will not quote extensively from it, wishing only that you read the entire excellent piece, but this little bit should open some eyes of those predisposed to disbelieve an alliance between Islamic radicals regardless of their sect:

Undoubtedly, the consequences of this event will be filled with strategic implications. Certainly this joint declaration is only between a number of Salafist groups, not the entire tree, let alone the Wahhabi Muslim Brotherhood web on one hand and Hezbollah; it remains confined to Lebanon; we're not dealing with an all-out two-trees jihadist merge.

Far from that, what we're witnessing is a massive move on behalf of one tree, the Khomeinists, to connect to some branches of the Salafist tree.

These attempts aren't new, for Iran has been funding "Sunni" Hamas and Islamic Jihad for decades. And the Syrian regime has been controlling Sunni-Salafist satellites for years.

Fatah al-Islam, a Salafist combat group which fought the Lebanese army during the summer of 2007 has been released from Syria into northern Lebanon. But all of these relationships were not declared openly nor were they organized officially.

The Salafist-Hezbollah agreement in Lebanon is a novelty from which there are a number of lessons to be learnt:

Iran is beginning to boldy reach out and attempt a unification of all the American hating jihadists, bringing them under one roof so to speak. This can only mean bad news for the west and especially bad news for America as Iran now seeks to assert itself in the Middle East and beyond.

Read all of Dr. Phares article.