STRATFOR sources connected to Hezbollah say Iran is mending ties with Lebanese Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Fadlallah is an influential figure in the Shiite community and considered worthy of emulation by a number of Shiite leaders, including Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. (Unlike the role of the religious scholar in Sunni Islam, in Shiite Islam ayatollahs hold powerful influence over the laity, given their authority to make legal decisions for followers and lesser clerics.) Fadlallah spent more than three decades studying in the Iraqi Shiite holy city of An Najaf, where he attained the honorific title of ayatollah. He is a well-respected cleric, even among Sunni and Christian communities in Lebanon. His fame dates to the 1980s, when Iran's Islamic Revolution put down its roots and Shiite fervor swept Lebanon.