When the Lebanese Shiite militant organization, Hezbollah, went on the offensive against pro-government forces in Beirut earlier this month, the clashes were said to have been part of the ongoing internal Lebanese political struggle. And that justification despite the blatant backing Hezbollah receives from Syria and Iran.

But evidence is emerging that the Shiite organization could be connected with Islamist forces in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, which an issue that deserves close scrutiny by the international community.

Questions need to be asked: Who are those groups? What exactly is Hezbollah's role in supporting them? And, to what extent is Hezbollah acting on orders from the mullahs in Tehran?

What brought this new development to light is a set of photographs made available to the Middle East Times by a reliable source who asked not to be identified.

The photographs were reportedly taken in the West African nation of Nigeria, although there is no independent way of confirming it. It is clear, however, that the images were taken somewhere in Africa.

Sustaining the source's allegation that these pictures were shot in Nigeria is the fact that first; there is indeed a large Shiite minority in Nigeria with whom Hezbollah would find a natural ally, and second; there is a large Lebanese Shiite immigrant community in that country who settled there in the 1960s and 1970s, coming mostly from south Lebanon.

The photographs show an unidentified Shiite mullah (his religious affiliation is easily identified by his dress) being given full military honors during a parade complete with uniformed militiamen and hundreds of Hezbollah yellow flags as well as giant posters of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

One picture shows a review stand guarded by men in uniform while one of several religious leaders appears to be giving a speech to a crowd.

Another picture shows hundreds of uniformed young men during a military parade, preceded by large posters of Nasrallah and of assassinated Hamas leader Ahmed Yassine.

Yet another photograph shows troops in different colored uniforms and with green berets marching past the review stand.

One shows a group of men in white suits carrying posters of Nasrallah, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the instigator of the Iranian Islamic Revolution and of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, current supreme leader of Iran.

So what is the connection between Hezbollah and militant groups in West Africa? And why is there such a link in the first place? What does the Lebanese movement, said to represent the Lebanese "resistance" fighting to liberate a parcel of land in south Lebanon from Israeli occupation, have to do in West Africa?

Indeed, Hezbollah's involvement in sub-Saharan Africa is reminiscent of the Cuban experience on the Dark Continent. One can draw a number of similarities between the Cuban "volunteers" who were acting at the behest of the Soviet Union, promoting communism in Africa in the 1960s and 1970s and Hezbollah acting as Iran's proxy, advancing Tehran's Islamic revolution today.

"The link between the Islamist movements in the Middle East and Islamist networks in Africa is not to be underestimated," said Walid Phares, director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington.