Iranian direction, Iraqi operatives, and Hezbollah training — Abu Mustafa's terror cell exposed

· Iran’s political and military involvement in Iraq is growing. Among other things, Qods Force, as an Iranian political force, is strengthening its hold in the country via the Iraqi militias, including the Asa'eb Ahel al-Haq militia. 

· Abu Mustafa’s terror cell, which is affiliated with Asa'eb Ahel al-Haq has now been exposed, following the arrest of its operatives in Africa.

· The cell was established to pursue terror activity against Western interests in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and the Persian Gulf States. 

· The head of the cell is Kamal Lazim Hameed Alazzawi, aka Abu Mustafa.

· Abu Mustafa is a former intelligence officer with the rank of Amid, who owns the al-Naghem tourism and travel agency located in Baghdad. 

Abu Mustafa

Al-Naghem tourism and travel agency

· Abu Mustafa operated under direct instructions from Qassem Soleimani until Soleimani’s death, after which the handling was transferred to other Iranian officials.

· Among other things, Abu Mustafa is responsible for recruiting operatives for the cell.

· Abu Mustafa's right-hand man is Raad Yasir Jebur Eqabi, an Iraqi known as Abu Morteda. 

· The operatives are Iraqis with Arab and foreign citizenships, including Iraqis living in the Gulf States, Turkey, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Middle East. The cell also has operatives with African citizenship who traveled to Iraq for religious studies, including from Senegal, Tanzania, Nigeria, and Ghana. 

· The initial training of the cell operatives was carried out in Iraq, including at the Masak hotel in al-Najaf. They were taught how to collect preliminary information for operations, and were given tests to determine who had the best qualifications.

· The trainees who excelled were sent to Lebanon for further training by Hezbollah, and underwent intelligence instruction in recruitment, surveillance, spotting and extracting assets, and information collection. The instructors were Lebanese individuals of Shiite origin, who used the aliases Abu Zeinab and Abu Fatma for cover purposes.

· The training took place at several sites in Lebanon; one of the main ones was in Qalat Jabur.

· The cell's operatives include the following:

Maisar Mohsen Hamoud 

German residents: 

Hamid Khalaf Luaibi al-Saedi (aka Abu-Karraar)  

Saadoon Hatiti Mushtar al-Saraji (aka Abu Karim). 

· We will continue to provide updates on additional members of the cell.