Society

Muted anger against Hizbullah among families of slain teen fighters

Grieving families whose sons were killed on Hizbullah's front lines are furious with the Iran-backed party but fear denouncing it.

Women in southern Beirut mourn during a funeral on July 31. [Khaled Desouki / AFP]
Women in southern Beirut mourn during a funeral on July 31. [Khaled Desouki / AFP]

By Nohad Topalian |

BEIRUT -- Lebanese Shia who have lost sons in battle after Hizbullah recruited them to fight without their families' knowledge or consent are deeply angry at the Iran-backed party but afraid to speak out against it, sources said.

Some families are so angry that they are refusing to allow Hizbullah to hold funerals for their sons until it apologizes formally to them for its actions.

Since its inception, "Hizbullah has been exploiting everything to beef up its ranks and equipment, even at the expense of its base," Southerners for Freedom coordinator and Hizbullah opponent Hussein Ataya told Al-Fassel.

The party has been taking advantage of the hardships the Shia community is facing from Lebanon's political and economic crisis to lure young men into its ranks, he said.

Hizbullah has been recruiting Lebanese youth even "without the consent of their families and guardians, in violation of the teachings and law of Islam," he said.

"With its war, Hizbullah has caused the death of boys under the age of 18 in its battles in the south, some of whom took part without the knowledge of their families," Ataya said.

Some families found out only after their sons' bodies were returned to them, he added.

But they were unable to publicly express their anger "because Hizbullah defames them and threatens to stop providing them with aid," he said.

The terrorist group also accuses them of being foreign agents and kuffar (infidels) if they dare speak out.

Military training camps

Hizbullah is enticing boys from displaced families in the south to join its Mahdi Scouts -- which offer military training camps disguised as scouting and educational camps -- with promises of providing aid to their families, Ataya said.

Many end up in combat.

The group pays for the "scout camps" and the handouts to families with its "huge financial resources acquired from Iran and the Captagon trade," he said.

Hizbullah's clashes in the south are becoming increasingly "intense, bloody, destructive and deadly," Lebanese Center for Research and Consulting director Hassan Qutb told Al-Fassel.

Hizbullah has so far lost about 400 elements in the cross-border fighting, including commanders, he said, noting that most of those dead hail from the south and were teenagers.

"Southerners and Hizbullah's base are paying a bloody price with their sons, property and livelihood for Iranian and regional calculations, which is something that they no longer accept," he said.

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Lies and falsehoods, the party does not force anyone to join its ranks.

You live in dreams

Yes, because Hassan "Nouss Lira" ( (who is not worth more than half a Lebanese pound)) does not care about his country or his people as much as he cares about implementing a foreign agenda

This article is a figment of its author’s imagination and has nothing to do with the truth. Everything mentioned in this article is a lie and slander

No matter how much lies you insert into people's minds, the people of the South will continue to support the honorable resistance that fights on behalf of a billion and a half Muslims. Mothers who gave birth to these heroes are blessed, and they will liberate Jerusalem very, very, very soon.