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Volunteer Iranian Jihadis Seek to Join Hezbollah

As the war between Israel, Hezbollah, and to some degree the ineffective government in Lebanon continues, the Islamic Republic of Iran for the moment will not be sending regular forces to the country, aside from those Revolutionary Guards already believed to be there aiding Hezbollah launch missiles at Israeli targets. And Tehran, opposed as it is to Israel`s existence, certainly is not stopping volunteer terrorists from going to join in the violence.

It emerged this week that a group of more than sixty Iranian volunteers - ranging from teens to grandfathers - have decided to head to Lebanon, via Turkey and Syria. These wanna-be "martyrs" claim to want to be part of the holy war against Israeli forces. As they readied for their journey overland, they were not to bring with them weapons. And there was some doubt as to whether Turkey, a Muslim partner of Iran as well as a secular Muslim ally of Israel, would let the volunteer jihadis cross the border.

A Turkish Foreign Ministry official, when pressed on the reports, would not say if they would be allowed to enter Turkish territory in order to get to Syria and from there into Lebanon, but Iranians can, generally, legally enter Turkey without a visa and stay for up to three months. Military service in the Islamic Republic is compulsory, so those who are trying to get to the fighting aren`t novices. And as one 72-year-old grandfather and one of the oldest volunteers, told an interviewer, "I still have fight left in me for a holy war."