Thousands of Iranian-backed fighters offer to join Hezbollah in its fight against Israel

BEIRUT (AP) — Thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join the Hezbollah militant group in its battle against Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-fledged war , officials with Iran said. » say the supported factions and analysts.

Almost daily exchanges of fire have taken place along the border between Lebanon and northern Israel since fighters from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip launched a bloody attack on southern Israel in early October, which sparked a war in Gaza.

The situation in the north worsened this month after an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hezbollah military commander in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah responded by firing hundreds of explosive rockets and drones into northern Israel.

Israeli officials have threatened to launch a military offensive in Lebanon if there is not a negotiated end to keeping Hezbollah from the border.

Over the past decade, Iranian-backed fighters from Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan have fought together in Syria’s 13-year conflict, helping to tip the scales in favor of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Leaders of Iran-backed groups say they could also unite again against Israel.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Wednesday that militant leaders from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and other countries had already offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to help Hezbollah, but he said the group already had more than 100,000 fighters.

“We told them thank you, but we are overwhelmed by the numbers we have,” Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah said the battle in its current form uses only a portion of Hezbollah’s manpower, an apparent reference to specialized fighters who fire missiles and drones.

But that could change in the event of all-out war. Nasrallah hinted at the possibility in a 2017 speech in which he said fighters from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan “would be partners” in such a war.

Officials from Lebanese and Iraqi groups backed by Iran say Iran-backed fighters from across the region will join them if war breaks out on the Lebanese-Israeli border. Thousands of these fighters are already deployed in Syria and could easily cross the porous and unmarked border.

Some groups have already launched attacks against Israel and its allies since the war between Israel and Hamas began on October 7. Groups in the so-called “axis of resistance” say they are using an “arena unity strategy” and will do so. will only stop fighting when Israel ends its offensive in Gaza against its ally, Hamas.

“We will fight alongside Hezbollah” if all-out war breaks out, an official with an Iran-backed group in Iraq told The Associated Press in Baghdad, insisting on speaking anonymously to discuss military matters. He declined to give further details.

The official, along with another Iraqi, said some Iraqi advisers were already in Lebanon.

An official from a Lebanese group backed by Iran, also insisting on anonymity, said fighters from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, Afghanistan’s Fatimiyoun, Pakistan’s Zeinabiyoun and the Yemeni rebel group backed by Iran known as Houthis could come to Lebanon to take part in a war. .

Qassim Qassir, a Hezbollah expert, acknowledged that current fighting relies mainly on high technology, such as firing missiles, and does not require large numbers of fighters. But if a war broke out and lasted for a long period, Hezbollah might need support from outside Lebanon, he added.

“An allusion to this case could be (a message) that these are cards that could be used,” he said.

Israel is also aware of the possible influx of foreign fighters.

Eran Etzion, a former head of policy planning at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, told a panel discussion Thursday hosted by the Washington-based Middle East Institute that he saw “a high probability” of a ” war on several fronts.

He said there could be intervention by Houthi and Iraqi militias and a “massive flow of jihadists from (places) including Afghanistan and Pakistan” into Lebanon and into Syrian areas bordering Israel.

Daniel Hagari, an Israeli military spokesman, said in a televised statement last week that since Hezbollah began its attacks on Israel on October 8, it has fired more than 5,000 rockets, anti-tank missiles and drones toward Israel.

“Hezbollah’s growing aggression brings us to the brink of what could be a broader escalation, which could have devastating consequences for Lebanon and the entire region,” Hagari said. “Israel will continue to fight against the Iranian axis of evil on all fronts. »

Hezbollah officials have said they do not want all-out war with Israel, but if it happens they will be ready.

“We have made the decision that any expansion, no matter how limited, will be met with expansion that will deter such an initiative and inflict heavy losses on Israel,” Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Kassem said in a speech last week. last week.

The United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the commander of the United Nations peacekeeping force deployed along Lebanon’s southern border, Lieutenant General Aroldo Lázaro, said in a statement joint statement that “the danger of a miscalculation leading to a sudden and wider conflict” is very real.

The last large-scale conflict between Israel and Hezbollah took place in the summer of 2006, when the two fought a 34-day war that killed about 1,200 people in Lebanon and 140 in Israel.

Since the start of the latest round of clashes, more than 400 people have been killed in Lebanon, the vast majority of them combatants, but including 70 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 16 soldiers and 11 civilians were killed. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced on both sides of the border.

Qassir, the analyst, said if foreign fighters joined, it would help them having fought together in Syria in the past.

“There is a common military language between the resistance axis forces and this is very important for waging a common battle,” he said.

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Abdul-Zahra reported from Baghdad. Associated Press writers Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington and Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.