Iran has begun a new recruitment campaign aimed at reinforcing Hezbollah’s ranks in Lebanon, offering volunteers a monthly salary of about $1,000. The ads, posted in various parts of Tehran, target mainly low-income young people, Basij activists, and those with ideological loyalty to the regime. The pay is said to be several times higher than Iran’s minimum wage.
According to the notices, applicants must meet conditions including strong physical fitness, discipline, ideological loyalty, and religious commitment. Those accepted are expected to receive initial military training with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force, then continue additional training in Syria and Lebanon. Some of the recruits are believed to be slotted into Hezbollah’s combat units, including elite formations such as the Radwan Force.
An intelligence source said the very need for public recruitment ads in Iran may indicate manpower shortages inside the Lebanese group. “The regime is effectively sending young people from Tehran, some of them looking for a salary more than for war,” the source said. The campaign comes as the issue of Iranian funding drew political attention in Israel on Thursday.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz addressed the matter at a conference of the National Headquarters for the Economic Warfare Against Terrorism. He warned against measures that could ease Iran’s economic situation and said, “Every dollar that enters the ayatollahs’ coffers is a dollar that became a ballistic missile, a drone in Lebanon, and a rocket in Gaza.”
