If the rumors that Iran has turned to members of Hamas and Hezbollah are true, then the protesters on the ground will only get more enraged.
On the one hand, Iranians both in Iran and outside of it are shocked, appalled, embarrassed [insert any other corresponding adjective here] to see Iranians attack one another like animals, that it almost would make sense - and be reassuring in a sad way - to think that these attacks are carried out by foreigners.
Of course, this is not plausible for many reasons as well, one being that if members of either [heavily-surveiled] Hamas and Hezbollah were moved from Palestine and Lebanon respectively, it would be picked up by US and Israeli intelligence who are itching to see the Iranian Regime fall, and, while hesitating to do anything to overtly overthrow the regime now, would not sit still if foreign forces would be moved in to the country to crush dissent that could lead to regime change.
In other words, while Israel and the US supported both Iraq and Iran at various stages of the disastrous Iran-Iraq war (in order to weaken both sides, though clearly the US and other Western nations favored Saddam Husseim), I doubt that in this scenario, both US and Israeli surveillance would turn a blind eye to foreign agents infiltrating into Iran to crush the protesters.
With no confirmed news coming out of Iran, we’re left to wonder what’s fact and what’s fiction.
From Jerusalem Post:
“The most important thing that I believe people outside of Iran should be aware of,” the young man went on, “is the participation of Palestinian forces in these riots.”
Another protester, who spoke as he carried a kitchen knife in one hand and a stone in the other, also cited the presence of Hamas in Teheran.
On Monday, he said, “my brother had his ribs beaten in by those Palestinian animals. Taking our people’s money is not enough, they are thirsty for our blood too.”
It was ironic, this man said, that the victorious Ahmadinejad “tells us to pray for the young Palestinians, suffering at the hands of Israel.” His hope, he added, was that Israel would “come to its senses” and ruthlessly deal with the Palestinians.
When asked if these militia fighters could have been mistaken for Lebanese Shi’ites, sent by Hizbullah, he rejected the idea. “Ask anyone, they will tell you the same thing. They [Palestinian extremists] are out beating Iranians in the streets… The more we gave this arrogant race, the more they want… [But] we will not let them push us around in our own country.”
From an admittedly random iReport post on CNN:
Currently, there are either two or three maybe four groups who are suppressing the students on the ground that you’ll read about throughout this thread:
1. The Basij
2. Ansar (Iranian) Hizbullah(which I will refer to as Ansar)
3. Lebanese Hizbullah.Der Spiegel, based on a Voice of America report, says that 5,000 Hizbullah fighters are currently in Iran masquerading as riot police, confirming the independent reports.
4. Lebanese Hamas.This rumour has been cropping up all day, with some of the most twitter feeds saying they had visual confirmation of Lebanese Hamas fighters along with Lebanese Hizbullah member.
- The Basij are Iran’s regular paramilitary organization. They are the armed hand of the clerics. The Basij are a legal group, officially a student union, and are legally under direct orders of the Revolutionary Guard. Their main raison d’être is to quell dissent. They are the ones who go and crack skulls, force people to participate in pro-regime demonstrations, and generally try to stop any demonstrations from even starting. They are located throughout the country, in every mosque, every university, every social club you can think of. They function in a way very similar to the Nazi brown shirts. They were the ones who first started the crackdown after the election, but it wasn’t enough. While they are violent and repressive, they are still Persian and attacking fellow citizens. A beating is one thing, mass killings another.
- The Ansar. There is a lot of cross-membership between the Basij and Ansar, though not all are members of the other group and vice-versa. The vast majority of Ansar are Persians (either Basij or ex-military), though a lot of Arab recruits come from Lebanon and train with them under supervision of the Revolutionary Guard. They are not functioning under a legal umbrella, they are considered a vigilante group, but they pledge loyalty directly to the Supreme Leader Khamenei. They are currently helping the Basij to control the riots, but due to the fact that they are Persians and in lower numbers than the Basij, they are not that active.
Being unable to repress the protesters, Khamenei’s regime imported members of the:
- Lebanese Hizbullah is a direct offshoot (and under direct control) of the Iranian Hizbullah (itself under direct control of the Supreme Leader Khamenei) and cooperates closely with Ansar. Though Ansar occupies itself only with Iran’s domestic policies, while Hizbullah occupies itself only with Iran’s foreign policy unless there is a crisis like right now. However, Hizbullah has been called to stop violent riots in Iran in the past. Hizbullah flew in a lot of their members in Iran, most likely a good deal even before the elections in case there were trouble. They are the ones who speak Arabs and are unleashing the biggest level of violence on the Persians so far. Another wave arrived recently and there is chatter that yet another wave of Hizbullah reinforcements are coming in from Lebanon as we write. According to Iranians on the ground, they are the ones riding motorcycles, beating men women and children indiscriminately and firing live ammunitions at students.
- The Lebanese Hamas is a branch of Hamas set-up in Lebanon. Like Hamas in Gaza, Hamas in Lebanon is directly under the orders of the Hamas council of Damascus known as Majlis al-Shurah. While it is surprising to hear that they might be involved, it is not illogical either. Iran has become the main benefactor of Hamas in the last years, branching out from only supporting Islamic Jihad. They now provide Hamas with the bulk of their budget, with advanced weaponry and training by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Not only do Hamas own them a lot, but if the Republic falls, Hamas finds itself in dire trouble. It is very likely that, at the call of Iran, the Majlis al-Shura would have decided to send fighters from their Lebanese Hamas branch along with Hizbullah fighters if it was requested of them.
Of course, not only are the Jerusalem Post or some random post on CNN’s iReport not exactly credible sources, I would add, I am not sure which one is least credible, so I decided to do some digging.
I searched for Iran and Hamas on Twitter and found the following, via this blog, from Robert Fisk:
Now for the very latest on the fantasy circuit. The cruel “Iranian” cops aren’t Iranian at all. They are members of Lebanon’s Hizbollah militia. I’ve had this one from two reporters, three phone callers (one from Lebanon) and a British politician. I’ve tried to talk to the cops. They cannot understand Arabic. They don’t even look like Arabs, let alone Lebanese. The reality is that many of these street thugs have been brought in from Baluch areas and Zobal province, close to the Afghan border. Even more are Iranian Azeris. Their accents sound as strange to Tehranis as would a Belfast accent to a Cornishman hearing it for the first time.
Fantasy and reality make uneasy bedfellows, but once they are combined and spread with high-speed inaccuracy around the world, they are also lethal. Sham elections, the takeover of party offices, a massacre on a university campus, an imminent coup d’état, the possible overthrow of the whole 30-year old Islamic Republic, the isolation of an entire country as its communications are systematically shut down.
I am reminded of Eisenhower’s comment to Foster Dulles when he sent him to London to close down Anthony Eden’s crazed war in Suez. The secretary of state’s job, Eisenhower instructed Dulles, was to say “Whoah, boy!” Good advice for those who believe in the Twitterers.
But the no-smoke-without-fire brigade has a point. Look at the extraordinary, million-strong march against the regime by Mousavi’s supporters on Monday. Even the Iranian press was forced to report it, albeit on inside pages. Yes, the authorities have indeed closed down the local SMS service. Yes, they have slowed down – but not closed – the internet. My Beirut roaming phone now rarely reaches London, although incoming calls arrive – unfortunately for me – round the clock. The Iranian government is obviously trying to interfere with the communications of Mousavi supporters to prevent them from organising further marches. Outrageous in any normal country, perhaps. But this is not a normal country. It is a state as obsessed with the dangers of counter-revolution as the West is obsessed with Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The Supreme Leader’s speech yesterday was proof of that.
But then we had the famous instruction to journalists in Tehran from the Ministry of Islamic Guidance that they could no longer report opposition street demonstrations. I heard nothing of this. Indeed, the first clue came when I refused to be interviewed by CNN (because their coverage of the Middle East is so biased) and the woman calling me asked: “Why? Are you worried about your safety?” Fisk continued to spend 12 hours a day on the streets. I discovered there was a ban only when I read about it in The Independent. Maybe the Guidance lads and lassies couldn’t get through on my mobile. But then, who had cut the phone lines?
I could go on, but right now, as proud as I am of the Iranian demonstrators and as embarrassed as I am about the Regime’s reaction if I had to trust a) JPost and a random iReport post or b) Robert Fisk, darn it, I have to go with Robert Fisk.
But at the same time, how could Iranians be attacking one another with axes, I ask? Are we really using axes to hack protesters in Tehran? There can’t possibly be a God, can there? I am convinced that those who are attacking the protesters in such a callous and vicious manner are not true Iranians, figuratively speaking, but until we have proof, then we do need to exert caution before jumping to conclusions.
And yes, that means not listening to the same folks who lied to us about Iraq, namely Michael Ledeen. In all fairness, his views on Iran are fairly nuanced, relative to the Neocon Cabal… though once he suggests that Hugo Chavez exported some thugs to Tehran, as well, then he sort of lost all credibility. Judge for yourself:
There are reports of members of the Revolutionary Guards defecting to the dissidents. There is this report from an Iranian website (the only place i’ve seen it) according to which 16 senior Revolutionary Guards officials have been arrested:
“These commanders have been in contact with members of the Iranian army to join the people’s movement. Three of the commanders are veterans of Iran-Iraq war. They have been moved to an undisclosed location in East Tehran.”
If true, it’s very important, but, as I have often noted, the regime has distrusted them for some time. The young Islamic revolutionaries of the late 1970s are now middle aged, and do not wish to slaughter their neighbors. That is why the mullahs have imported killers from abroad: the five thousand or so Hezbollahis who, according to Der Spiegel, have been brought in from Lebanon and Syria. Dissidents on Twitter report clashes with security forces who do not speak Farsi, and there are even some rumors suggesting that Chavez has sent some of his toughs from Venezuela. Who knows?
Who knows? Told you.
And of course, what to make of those who simply assume that the thugs are Arabs because of they way they look, seriously, namely, Gateway Pundit: Hezbollah & Hamas Thugs Photographed in Tehran (Pics). To quote Saturday Night Live: really? I mean, really?
It’s a shame the Regime doesn’t understand where the world - and technology - is at. But as the brutal and horrifying scenes of today prove, they’re interested in going backwards, not forward.
By censoring the media and expelling foreign press, they are letting fiction proliferate on the Web: they have not only lost the information war, but lost total control of the situation.
Like a wounded animal, the Regime is perhaps most dangerous now, but it is a matter of time before it takes its last breath.
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