Hezbollah is set to send 800 fighters to Russia to aid the Kremlin's forces war against Ukraine, Saudi media outlet Al-Hadath reported on Friday.
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The move will allow the Shiite terrorist group to purchase weapons from Russian state-owned defense contractor Almaz-Antey.
Hezbollah is Iran's largest proxy in the Middle East. The group has been heavily involved in Tehran's efforts to prop up the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the war that has been ravaging the country since 2011, and Russia – an all of both – stepped into the fray in 2015, largely ensuring Assad survival.
Soon after Russian invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 reports surfaced that Hezbollah would be sending forces to Moscow, but the Shiite terrorist group has repeatedly denied them.
According to Al-Hadath, the Iranian proxy plans to send 200 operatives to Russia, with the rest joining them at a later date. The troops will be paid a monthly wage of $1500 each.
The deal was reportedly reached following a meeting between the head of Hezbollah's security unit Naji Hassan al-Shartouni and a Russian official named Alexander Kuznetsov, in Latakia.
The report said that Kuznetsov is an employee of the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary organization often described in western media as the "private army" of the Russian Defense Ministry.
Lebanon's Sawt Beirut International website reported that Hezbollah has opened a recruitment office in Al-Qusayr, in western Syria following the meeting between Shartouni and Kuznetsov, and that three additional recruitment offices are set to open Aleppo, Yabroud, and Sayyida Zainab, where Hezbollah members can sign up for the Russian mission.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian met with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah Thursday, while on an official visit to Beirut.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry said the two discussed regional issues, including developments in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the Russian-Ukraine war and the negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.
The ministry noted that Tehran "stands prepared to assist Lebanon," which is grappling with the worst economic and political crisis in its history, in "different spheres," including engineering, industrial, energy, and more.
Speaking to Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen network, Amirabdollahian commented on Gulf state's relations with Israel, saying that "Tehran considers any meeting with an Israeli official as a betrayal of al-Quds [Jerusalem] and Palestine."
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