Hezbollah supporters march during a ceremony organized on Jan.4, 2022 in the southern suburbs of Beirut on the occasion of the second commemoration of the assassination in Iraq of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. (Credit: Houssam Chbaro/An-Nahar)
BEIRUT – Hezbollah denied Tuesday that the party will send any of its members to Iran to counter ongoing unrest in the country.
An image of what appeared to be a memo issued by Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah calling for 4,000 troops to be mobilized to Iran “to participate in securing sensitive facilities” made rounds on social media earlier this week. The memo specified it would be preferable to send “those with experience in service in Syria and who have taken language courses in Persian.”
An image of what appeared to be a Hezbollah memo calling for the mobilization of troops to Iran circulated on social media last week. Hezbollah denied that it is sending any troops to the Islamic Republic
However, when contacted by L’Orient-Today, a Hezbollah spokesperson denied the mobilization of any troops.
Aside from news stories by Hezbollah-run Al-Manar TV echoing the Iranian government’s version of events, Hezbollah has so far remained silent on the protests in Iran.
Speaking to L’Orient-Today, Hilal Khashan, a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said this is in keeping with precedent.
“[Hezbollah] usually ignore[s] Iranian domestic protests," said Khashan. "They remained silent on more significant protests in the past, such as the 2009 nationwide protests over rigging the presidential elections and the 2020 protests after the IRGC mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian commercial plane, and last May’s protests over soaring food prices.”
He added that he does "not see why they would dissent from their previous silence.”
The ongoing nationwide demonstrations in Iran were sparked after the killing 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, whose Kurdish first name was Jina, after being detained by Iran’s so-called morality police for allegedly not abiding by the country’s strict dress code.