Rascal
08-04-2006, 04:01 PM
http://roozonline.com/english/016945.shtml
Hezbollah Bases in Tehran
Dana Shahsavari
04 Aug 2006
http://roozonline.com/image/ns_h_lebanon_01.jpg “Light of Liberation” is the title of a poster carrying a portrait of Hezbollah’s seyed Hassan Nassrollah. The edge of the poster is black and its inside yellow, as if Nassrollah shines with light. This image of Hezbollah’s leader and commander is not unfamiliar to residents of Tehran.
Since about 20 days ago when the conflict between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel entered a new phase, this poster and others like it have been repeatedly carried and displayed by street demonstrators in Tehran who have chanted slogans in support of Hezbollah armed militia, along with posters of ayatollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei and Imam Mousa Sadr.
These posters exist in large quantities and are distributed freely to the public at “resistance bases” throughout Tehran. These “bases” that began appearing in Tehran a few days ago are in fact war tents covered with fishing netting and camouflage cloth of the kind one normally finds on battle tanks and war fronts. These images of course remind many people of the Iran-Iraq war years. There are of course those who while feeling solidarity with the people of Lebanon, and their women and children who are being killed there believe that this support should not be displayed in such a war-like manner. One Tehrani standing in front of one of these tents says, “I too get a stomach ache when I see these pictures of brutal killings in Lebanon. I was at the war fronts in 1985 as part of the Baseej militia. My friends were martyred in front of my own eyes. My brother too was martyred. But these events today hurt me. We have not forgotten the war and should not be after it. Why do we have to hurt our own people for the same of Lebanese people?”
One of the officials of these tents explained, “We are displaying this in 20 important junctures of Tehran.” In his tent, which he insists we call a “resistance base”, there is a loudspeaker through which Arabic epic hymns are broadcast from 9 am till late into the evening. These are of the same type that the national television shows every night when broadcasting images of Palestine and Lebanon. When we ask him about the number of dead, he says, “Sir, they have killed thousands until now, but more Israelis have died, and people have left about 60 percent of Israel is now,” adding that he gets his news of the military situation in Lebanon from the local press. Outside the tent, a stand displays local newspaper clippings of the latest news and photos of Lebanon. When we ask how you chose which clippings to display, he replies, “We do not choose. They bring it to us every day.” He does not know who they are, or where they bring these clippings, or perhaps does not wish to tell us. When we ask who has provided you with this tent and equipment, he says, “I hope you do not think that these are from the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps. No. In fact the idea of setting these up came from the ‘Center for the Defense of the Sacred Defense Values’ [Markaz-e Defa az Arzeshhaye Defa-e Moghadas] to the General Command [Setade Kol], which accepted it and ordered 20 centers be set up.” He does not know how long these centers would continue their work, but added, “We have not been told till when, only until further notice.”
A passerby comes in and says, “I want to sign up to go to Lebanon,” to which the responsible person replies, “Write your details in this book.” We ask him whether they sign up people for suicide martyr missions too, and he says, “No, that is not our job. But we have been instructed to write everybody’s name. They want to estimate how many suicide martyrs they can gather.”
When we ask him where are the centers that register volunteers for suicide martyr missions, known as the Esteshhadiyoon, he replies, “I do not know. All I know is that it is not that simple to go to Lebanon. To go there, they inquire from the Ministry of Intelligence, Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Bureau, Security and Intelligence of the Judiciary, law enforcement agencies, etc. So far only a few thousand from the Gods brigade of the Passdaran has gone to Lebanon. Before going, it must be established that those wanting to go are not spies.”
“What about the Ashoora brigade? Have they gone too,” we ask, to which he replies that he does not know. “I tried repeatedly to go, but they would not let me. I am a member of theAshoora brigade and have seen training for asymmetric combat,” he volunteers. When we ask him about his opinion of seyed Hassan Nasrollah, he replies, “He is after all the leader of Hezbollah. All eyes in Lebanon are on him. Most importantly, he awaits instructions from Vali Faghigh”, i.e. ayatollah Khamenei the leader of Iran. “How do you know that,” we probe. “That is clear. It is we who armed Hezbollah and more than 80 percent of Lebanese Hezbollah are in fact Iranian forces. And we provide all their weapons, which include 3 types of missiles, Zalzal, Khabir and Maedeh. They had asked for Shahab 3 missiles as well but Iranian commanders refused to provide them. In any case Israel will be defeated for which Iran must be credited.”
Hezbollah Bases in Tehran
Dana Shahsavari
04 Aug 2006
http://roozonline.com/image/ns_h_lebanon_01.jpg “Light of Liberation” is the title of a poster carrying a portrait of Hezbollah’s seyed Hassan Nassrollah. The edge of the poster is black and its inside yellow, as if Nassrollah shines with light. This image of Hezbollah’s leader and commander is not unfamiliar to residents of Tehran.
Since about 20 days ago when the conflict between Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel entered a new phase, this poster and others like it have been repeatedly carried and displayed by street demonstrators in Tehran who have chanted slogans in support of Hezbollah armed militia, along with posters of ayatollah Khomeini, Ali Khamenei and Imam Mousa Sadr.
These posters exist in large quantities and are distributed freely to the public at “resistance bases” throughout Tehran. These “bases” that began appearing in Tehran a few days ago are in fact war tents covered with fishing netting and camouflage cloth of the kind one normally finds on battle tanks and war fronts. These images of course remind many people of the Iran-Iraq war years. There are of course those who while feeling solidarity with the people of Lebanon, and their women and children who are being killed there believe that this support should not be displayed in such a war-like manner. One Tehrani standing in front of one of these tents says, “I too get a stomach ache when I see these pictures of brutal killings in Lebanon. I was at the war fronts in 1985 as part of the Baseej militia. My friends were martyred in front of my own eyes. My brother too was martyred. But these events today hurt me. We have not forgotten the war and should not be after it. Why do we have to hurt our own people for the same of Lebanese people?”
One of the officials of these tents explained, “We are displaying this in 20 important junctures of Tehran.” In his tent, which he insists we call a “resistance base”, there is a loudspeaker through which Arabic epic hymns are broadcast from 9 am till late into the evening. These are of the same type that the national television shows every night when broadcasting images of Palestine and Lebanon. When we ask him about the number of dead, he says, “Sir, they have killed thousands until now, but more Israelis have died, and people have left about 60 percent of Israel is now,” adding that he gets his news of the military situation in Lebanon from the local press. Outside the tent, a stand displays local newspaper clippings of the latest news and photos of Lebanon. When we ask how you chose which clippings to display, he replies, “We do not choose. They bring it to us every day.” He does not know who they are, or where they bring these clippings, or perhaps does not wish to tell us. When we ask who has provided you with this tent and equipment, he says, “I hope you do not think that these are from the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps. No. In fact the idea of setting these up came from the ‘Center for the Defense of the Sacred Defense Values’ [Markaz-e Defa az Arzeshhaye Defa-e Moghadas] to the General Command [Setade Kol], which accepted it and ordered 20 centers be set up.” He does not know how long these centers would continue their work, but added, “We have not been told till when, only until further notice.”
A passerby comes in and says, “I want to sign up to go to Lebanon,” to which the responsible person replies, “Write your details in this book.” We ask him whether they sign up people for suicide martyr missions too, and he says, “No, that is not our job. But we have been instructed to write everybody’s name. They want to estimate how many suicide martyrs they can gather.”
When we ask him where are the centers that register volunteers for suicide martyr missions, known as the Esteshhadiyoon, he replies, “I do not know. All I know is that it is not that simple to go to Lebanon. To go there, they inquire from the Ministry of Intelligence, Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps Intelligence Bureau, Security and Intelligence of the Judiciary, law enforcement agencies, etc. So far only a few thousand from the Gods brigade of the Passdaran has gone to Lebanon. Before going, it must be established that those wanting to go are not spies.”
“What about the Ashoora brigade? Have they gone too,” we ask, to which he replies that he does not know. “I tried repeatedly to go, but they would not let me. I am a member of theAshoora brigade and have seen training for asymmetric combat,” he volunteers. When we ask him about his opinion of seyed Hassan Nasrollah, he replies, “He is after all the leader of Hezbollah. All eyes in Lebanon are on him. Most importantly, he awaits instructions from Vali Faghigh”, i.e. ayatollah Khamenei the leader of Iran. “How do you know that,” we probe. “That is clear. It is we who armed Hezbollah and more than 80 percent of Lebanese Hezbollah are in fact Iranian forces. And we provide all their weapons, which include 3 types of missiles, Zalzal, Khabir and Maedeh. They had asked for Shahab 3 missiles as well but Iranian commanders refused to provide them. In any case Israel will be defeated for which Iran must be credited.”