A group of 50 Iranian students demonstrated Wednesday in Tehran, expressing their willingness to go to Lebanon to fight Israel, news agencies reported.
The group, calling itself the Student Movement for Justice, shouted slogans such as "Muhammad’s army is coming," or "Hizbullah is coming to Jerusalem."
"We have to get there," said one of the protesters, Jawad Rahbari, a 23-year-old Islamic law student. "Innocent people are facing aggression and are calling for help."
Rahbari added that the group intended to reach the Turkish border by car, and if they could not get permission to cross the border, they would walk all the way to Lebanon.
Another member of the group said they wanted to reach Lebanon, "and if our commanders permit us, we will also head to occupied Palestine."
According to Rahbari, most of the group members have written their wills and are ready to sacrifice their lives.
"We did not undergo any special military training, but we were told Hizbullah will train us for a week once we get to Lebanon."
Earlier this week, The Media Line quoted a report by the Iranian Mehr news agency, according to which a group of 27 Iranians reached Syria intending to fight alongside Hizbullah in Lebanon. The group was part of the Martyrs of Islam World Movement (MIWM), an organization that was formed in 2005 and has since recruited some 55,000 volunteers.
One day after the report, commander-in-chief of the Iranian Basij Forces, Brigadier General Muhammad Hijazi, told reporters Iran did not dispatch any martyrdom-seekers into Lebanon.
"These accusations… are just another helpless attempt by the Zionist regime to project its problems and portray a weak and fragile image of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon and Palestine," the Iranian Fars news agency quoted Hijazi as saying.