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Tehran,
11 August (AKI) - One of Osama bin Laden's sons, Saad,
together with a number of top al-Qaeda commanders,
including Seif al Adel, are hiding in Iran and are not in
Syria as reported by several Western papers this week, a
well informed source told Adnkronos International (AKI).
The source, a top Iranian intelligence official until a
few months ago, said al-Qaeda and members of Iran's
powerful revolutionary guard, the Pasdaran, are
negotiating coordinated actions against the United States
and Israel.
 The
al-Qaeda members had been living for the past four years
in a neighbourhood in northern Tehran under the
surveillance of Iran's revolutionary guards corps, the
Pasdaran, but were recently moved to a military base 80 km
south-west of the capital, along the road to the holy city
of Qum.
The source said that Saad bin-Laden
doesn't need take unnecessary risks and move to Syria to
organize militantss to send to Lebanon to fight against
the Israelis alongside the Shiite Hezbollah militias.
According to the same source, the
death of the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi , who was killed in a US air raid on 7 June and
was known for his hatred of Shiite Muslims, paved the way
for talks on a "tacticak cooperation" between the Pasdaran
and a significant part of the predominantly Sunni al-Qaeda
organization of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.
"The decision to transfer of Saad
bin Laden and of other leading members of al-Qaeda to this
military base managed by the al Quds battallion of the
Pasdaran was taken to make it easier for members of the
militant group and the army to meet," the source told AKI.
The latest statement by Ayman
al-Zawahiri aired on 27 July by al-Jazeera was considered
by many analysts an unprecedented step by al-Qaeda's
number two, towards Shiite movements. In the message,
Zawahiri praised Hezbollah and called on Sunni Muslims to
fight with the soldiers of the group's leader, Sheikh
Hassan Nasrallah.
However, the source told AKI that
the message was a consequence of dialogue started after
the death of al-Zaerqawi.
 "The
statements made by [Iranian president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
on Israel and Jews and the threats of Pasdaran top
officials agains the Americans and British, the campaign
of Iranian papers against the presence of foreign troops
in Iraq facilitated negotiations with al Qaeda's men."
The same source expressed the
belief that ideological and theological divergences
between the Iranians and al Qaeda remain but the needs
dictated by current events prevailed and forced the
radical Shiites to seek an accord with the terror group.
"Grassroots members of both groups
will probably not welcome an accord though an agreement is
key for both if they mean to strike the common enemy with
terror actions."
"The Islamic Republic has the
advantages and the limits of a state sitting in
international organizations but needs an organization able
to do the dirty work while al Qaeda needs the cover of a
government, though it has overhauled its organization."
The Iranian source however denied
reports alleging that Iran, which is believed to arm
Hezbollah with Syria, needs al Qaeda to support
Hezbollah's fight against Israel.
"Providing
Nasrallah with the support of al Qaeda would destroy the
myth of Hezbollah's invincibility," the source said. "Iran
will use Palestinian militants if the Shiite guerrilla
needs help, further strengthening ties with Hamas, an
alliance which has added value on a political level."
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