Ansare Hezbollah

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The Ansare Hezbollah ( Persian انصار حزب‌ الله, DMG Anṣār-i Ḥizbullāh , from Arabic أنصار حزب الله 'Helpers of the Party of God') is an organization founded in 1993 and subordinate to the Iranian revolutionary leader Seyyed Ali Chamene'i . It consists of members of the Basiji , government officials and veterans of the First Gulf War and differs from the Iranian Hezbollah .

Emergence

The immediate forerunner of Ansare Hezbollah is a group called Razmandegan (Warriors), which was founded in 1984 by veterans of the First Gulf War and began to recruit new members in Tehran after the war ended in 1988 . It began its activities a year later and has had its current name since 1993. It was not known to a wider public until 1995.

organization

Ansare Hezbollah initially consists of the 18 founders of the organization who have contacts with the Revolutionary Guards (Pasdaran) and high-ranking clerics in Qom . Zabihollah Bakhshi is seen as a leading figure and a prominent motivator of the masses who, as a member of the first hour, appears at major events such as Al-Quds Day in Tehran, usually in Basij outfit and with the Hezbollah yellow flag. Other well-known members of Ansare Hezbollah are the spokesmen for the organization, Mojtaba Bigdeli and Hassan Abbasi . The latter caused a sensation with his critical remarks towards the ex-President Mohammad Chātami and his predecessor Ali-Akbar Hāschemi Rafsanjāni . The majority of the members come from the lower class.

Ansare Hezbollah has several newspapers that appear weekly under the names Hezbollah and Jebhe , as well as charities in every major Iranian city. The members of the organization recruit young people in the mosques . Many members, including women, are being recruited to support Lebanese Hezbollah and are also undergoing military training. The headquarters of Ansare Hezbollah are in the cities of Karaj and Tehran.

ideology

Ansare Hezbollah is considered to be the greatest ideological and financial supporter of the Lebanese Hezbollah within Iran. Donations are collected daily for the war victims and members of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon . It is believed that many of the Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are Iranian citizens and members of Ansare Hezbollah. As a government-loyal organization, Ansare Hezbollah represents a counterweight to the reformists and western-minded government critics. During the student protests in Tehran in 1999, there were repeated clashes between the protesting students and members of the Ansare Hezbollah. Although the organization is loyal to the government, it is still considered a critical voice within the pro-government organizations in Iran. Not only are reform-oriented politicians within Iran criticized, such as the former President Mohammad Chātamī and his brother Reza Chātamī , but in some cases also ultra-conservative politicians such as the former President Mahmud Ahmadinejad .

financing

Ansare Hezbollah is officially financed from donations, which are mostly collected in mosques. The group is mainly financed by people close to the government, such as the chairman of the Guardian Council , Ayatollah Ahmad Dschannati , who is considered to be the main sponsor of the group and whose goals he expressly shares. Other sponsors are the former commander of the Pasdaran Mohsen Rafiqdust and Habibollah Asgar Owladi , who is a member of the arbitration council . Both are said to have supported Ansare Hezbollah with large sums of money. In the past there was supposed to have been a brief cooperation with the former President Rafsandjani, who is now considered too pragmatic and is openly criticized by Ansare Hezbollah.

Hezbollahi

As Hisbollahi in Iran strictly religious people are referred to the example of Ayatollah Khomeini follow his teachings and uncompromising. Today there are dozens of independently operating Hezbollah groups in Iran that are not organized like Ansare Hezbollah, but can be mobilized by it. The exact number of members is unclear, as the close relatives of the active are often also counted.

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