A communiqué signed by 'Qaidat al-Jihad Fi Bilad al-Sham' said Wednesday Iraq's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has set set up assassination squads to assassinate nine Shiite leader in Lebanon, including House Speaker Nabih Berri.

Received by fax by the Shiite Dar Al Iftaa in the southern port city of Tyre, the communiqué said top ranking Hezbollah officials, including the head of Hezbollah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc Mohammed Raad, are also on the list.

Other targets include the acting chairman of the Higher Shiite Council Sheikh Abdul Amir Qabalan,   Lebanon's top Shiite authority Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Hezbollah's South Lebanon military commander Sheikh Nabil Qawook and the Party's Shura Council member Sheikh Mohammed Yazbek, the Tyre and Jabal Amel Mufti Sayyed Ali Amin and religious scholar Sheikh Majed al-Khafaf. 

According to the communique, the death list targets "leaders in the country of Muslims who authorized cooperation with the Crusaders and Jews against the soldiers of God on earth, the sons of Islam, who are fighting the Americans and Jews in the country of the two tributaries and al-Sham."

The alleged fax also said another list of targets would be soon be released in another communiqué.

Lebanon police are investigating the claim.