This assistance is believed to have significantly boosted al-Qaeda’s killing power, which dramatically increased by the end of the decade. Al-Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and wounded more than 5,000 people in simultaneous operations that used huge truck bombs similar those used in past Hezbollah operations.

Although Hezbollah, a revolutionary Shia Islamist organization, had loose ties to Al Qaeda, a revolutionary Sunni Islamist organization, it enjoyed much closer ties to radical Shia revolutionary regime in Iran, which had mid-wifed its birth in 1982. Hezbollah leaders were inspired by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khome...

This assistance is believed to have significantly boosted al-Qaeda’s killing power, which dramatically increased by the end of the decade. Al-Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and wounded more than 5,000 people in simultaneous operations that used huge truck bombs similar those used in past Hezbollah operations.

Although Hezbollah, a revolutionary Shia Islamist organization, had loose ties to Al Qaeda, a revolutionary Sunni Islamist organization, it enjoyed much closer ties to radical Shia revolutionary regime in Iran, which had mid-wifed its birth in 1982. Hezbollah leaders were inspired by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s 1979 revolution in Iran, trained by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, financed by Iran, and often carried out Iranian orders. Indeed, the October 23, 1983 bombing later was discovered to have been ordered by Iran.

The operational mastermind behind the Marine barracks bombing, Imad Mugniyah, frequently traveled to Iran and worked closely with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The son of a Lebanese Shia cleric, Mugniyah trained with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah terrorist group in Lebanon in the late 1970s and became part of Force 17, Arafat’s personal security force. After the 1982 expulsion of Arafat from Lebanon, Mugniyah served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s spiritual leader, Sheikh Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah, and quickly rose to become a key leader of Hezbollah’s terrorist operations, earning the alias of “the Fox.” In addition the bombing of the Marine barra...

The operational mastermind behind the Marine barracks bombing, Imad Mugniyah, frequently traveled to Iran and worked closely with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). The son of a Lebanese Shia cleric, Mugniyah trained with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah terrorist group in Lebanon in the late 1970s and became part of Force 17, Arafat’s personal security force. After the 1982 expulsion of Arafat from Lebanon, Mugniyah served as a bodyguard for Hezbollah’s spiritual leader, Sheikh Muhammed Hussein Fadlallah, and quickly rose to become a key leader of Hezbollah’s terrorist operations, earning the alias of “the Fox.” In addition the bombing of the Marine barracks Mugniyah was involved in the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 63 people, including 17 Americans; the taking of many American and western hostages in Lebanon; and the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 in Lebanon, which resulted in the murder of a passenger, a U.S. Navy diver.

Mugniyah died in a mysterious car bombing in Damascus last year that may have been an Israeli counter-terrorist operation. He reportedly had been involved in the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, which killed 29 people, and the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish community center, which killed 85 people. He also may have played a role in planning Hezbollah’s July 2006 kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, which provoked a 34-day war in southern Lebanon.

Following Mugniyah’s bloody career helps to connect the dots in a surprising number of far-flung terrorist operations. But it is important to remember the major role played by Iran in many of these terrorist atrocities. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards continue to support terrorist attacks today in Iraq just as they did in Lebanon twenty six years ago.