Hezbollah sends 800 fighters to Ukraine

A Russian opposition publication reports sending 800 Hezbollah fighters to the war in Ukraine.

Information provided “New Newspaper”, giving details, referring to the Al-Arabiya concern, the world’s largest Arabic-language television company, the Al Hadas channel. On Friday, March 25, the channel reported on allegedly ongoing negotiations between the Russian PMC Wagner and the Shiite armed group Hezbollah to send militants to Ukraine. According to Al-Hadas, a certain Alexander Kuznetsov represented Wagner at the talks, a high-ranking member of the Naji security unit, Hassan Al Shartuni (Haj Abu Ali), spoke from Hezbollah.

The meeting, according to the channel, took place a few days ago, and the parties reached an agreement: 800 Hezbollah fighters will go to Ukraine to conduct military operations, the fee for hiring each will be $1,500 per month. As a bonus, the channel reports, Hezbollah, and indirectly through it, Iran expects to receive certain preferences on major transactions.

Shortly after the meeting of the contracting parties, Hezbollah opened a recruitment and mobilization office in the city of Quseir, Homs province (Syria). The office is under the leadership of Hezbollah military intelligence official Asaad Hamieh (Haj Hadi). In Syrian Aleppo, Yabrud and Sayyida-Zeynab, three additional offices are already functioning – to mobilize Hezbollah fighters stationed in Syria. A fourth is open in Lebanon, in the southern suburbs of Beirut controlled by the group.

Already on Tuesday, March 29, the first stage of sending militants to Ukraine is planned, local media write – 200 fighters will supposedly be transferred from Damascus to a military air base in the Gomel region of Belarus, reports bb.lv The fighters are recruited from the battle-hardened al-Abbas and al-Radwan battalions. Everyone fills out a special form indicating the data of the person who signed up for the war with Ukraine: name, date of birth, military training and combat experience.

Units of Hezbollah – a cohesive, skillful, modern army of applied action – can be a serious factor influencing the “special operation” in Ukraine. As of today, the Hezbollah army has approximately 100 thousand continuously fighting fighters. Many countries have recognized it as a terrorist organization.

Founded in 1982, Hezbollah has declared itself as an armed political force, ready to get its way through weapons. Children of all members of the group from the age of 17, girls and boys, are sent to military training camps for basic military training. After that, those who distinguished themselves take more advanced courses: explosives, guerrilla warfare and survival training. Each fighter who has completed the full course is sent to the front line in southern Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen. For the past 11 years, Hezbollah’s army has been at war in Syria, where fighters have honed their skills in urban warfare and the art of sabotage warfare.

Just last week, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s secretary general, categorically denied any possibility of the group’s involvement in events in Ukraine in a televised address. However, no matter how the news resonates with these statements, one should not be surprised. After all, even earlier Hezbollah denied the possibility of participating in hostilities in foreign countries – in Syria, Bosnia, Palestine, Yemen, Iraq. But each time later she confessed to sending militants.

This time, the circumstances are slightly different and the stakes are higher. Media in the Middle East write: Hezbollah, with the support of their Iranian sponsors, is sending troops against a president with Jewish roots, who, at the same time, is openly supported by Israel (…).”

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