Popular Forces in Iraq, Lebanon Inspired by Iran’s Basij: IRGC Chief

In an address to a huge gathering of Tehran’s Basij (voluntary) forces on Sunday, Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Mohammad-Ali Jafari outlined the major contribution of popular forces to the resistance front and said the IRGC is honoured to establish the first group of such forces in the region, known as Defenders of the Holy Shrine.

According to a Farsi report by Sepah News, he went on to say Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Popular Mobilization Units in Iraq are inspired by popular forces in Iran. “We see the same inspiration in Yemen and other regional states.”

The top commander pointed to the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini’s important advice on the necessity of creating resistance cells across the regional states and said today the cells have been established in the region and “we will see their regional affects in the near future.”

Elsewhere in his address, General Jafari said, “Our war knows no border and as you saw in Syria, Muslims from all countries rushed voluntarily to the battlefield against the enemy.”

He added whenever well-organized, people can step into the fray and overcome each crisis, even in the case of a world war.

“IRGC and the popular forces have expressed their readiness to take part in different scenes to resolve social problems.”

He then referred to the contribution of the IRGC and popular forces to the concerted efforts after the recent deadly earthquake in western Iran, and said if it was not for the popular forces’ help within a provincial unit of IRGC, the quake-hit Iranians would have a more disastrous condition now.