Hezbollah fighters: A duty to help Syria's Assad

As he pushes a cart full of tomatoes and cucumbers inthe market at Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, nothing marks out Mahmud as anexperienced Hezbollah fighter.The stocky vegetable vendor in his fifties, who sports a red beard, fought Israel herein 2006, but that battle is now old news.He has just come back from another front: in Syria, where he fought for 25 daysagainst the rebels who have sought to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad for thepast three years.Since the Shiite movement's chief Hassan Nasrallah gave the order more than a yearago, thousands of Hezbollah fighters have fought in Syria, playing a decisive role inkey victories for the regime. Street vendors, farmers, restaurant owners, medical professionals and students haveall joined what they call an "existential battle" against "takfiris" -- Sunni extremists."When the party called on me to go, I responded. I left my job and I went to stop thetakfiris from entering Lebanon," says Mahmud."I fought in several regions and took fighters from the region and elsewhereprisoner," he adds."Our cause is just. They are mercenaries from Chechnya, Yemen and Libya who wantto overthrow Bashar al-Assad, who supported us enormously during the 2006 waragainst Israel," Mahmud insists."It's our duty to help him."Hezbollah has a powerful presence at many levels of society in Lebanon, withrepresentatives in parliament and strong social service networks.It is backed by Iran, which has long supplied it with weapons through Syria.- 'Victory awaits us' -But the group presents its role as protecting Syria from Sunni-dominated rebels whothey say want to overthrow the regime because they hate Alawites, including Assad, whose faith is an offshoot of Shiite Islam.The divide between Sunni and Shiite Islam goes back some 1,400 years over adisagreement on the Prophet Mohammed's successor.In another southern Lebanese village, Fatima has not let the death of her husbandin the June 2013 battle for Syria's Qusayr stop her from encouraging her son to join the fight."I've send Khodr, with dozens of other young men, to do one month of training inLebanon," she says. "He must learn to handle weapons so that he can become a fighter like his father."Next to her, Khodr sorts tobacco seedlings for planting. His beard is just coming inand his eyes are sad.He wears a picture of his father around his neck and has a pin on his T-shirt bearingNasrallah's picture and his phrase "Victory awaits us".His older brother Wissam, 25, came back from Syria a week earlier."We obey Sayyed Hassan (Nasrallah) when he invites us to fight. My father died amartyr and we must follow his path," he says.There are no official figures on how many Hezbollah fighters have been killed inSyria, but several analyses put the toll at around 300.- Voices of dissent -"Should we let them come and kill us like sheep, like they have done to the Shiites inIraq and Syria? No, we will defeat them as we defeated Israel," Wissam adds.When they first began fighting in Syria, Hezbollah members refused to discuss their involvement, but now they talk about it with pride, while declining to offer detailsof their numbers or operations. At a school in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah posters advertise scouting sessions, butthe accompanying photos of young men in military uniforms suggest the training ismore combat-based.In some places, there are voices of dissent against the group's involvement in theconflict next door."They sent my son to his death without my approval. Who told them that I wantedmy son to die in Syria?" one man asks, declining to be named for fear of incurring Hezbollah's wrath.But that sentiment is rare among the party's constituents, who also know Hezbollahwill support them if their loved ones are killed."My family's future is safe if I die. They'll take care of the schooling for my nine- year-old son and look after his health," says Osama, a 38-year-old party member inthe city of Tyre.In Baalbek, a Hezbollah stronghold in eastern Lebanon, 22-year-old Hussein isheading to Iran to undergo a commander training course.The psychology student's parents are both party members and he has alreadyfought in Syria's northern province of Aleppo."I'm very excited about going to Iran to become a battalion chief. It's a promotion,"he says, under his mother's watchful eye.