BEIRUT: The black-clad fighters toting machine guns deployed in the southern suburbs of the capital, watching over the procession. It was the 10th day of Ashoura, the commemoration of the death of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, and fears were rife that the Shiite processions around the country last week would become the targets of terrorist attacks.
The masked, ninja-like fighters, with ominous-looking visors and red armbands, were there to help make sure that did not happen.
“The aim of their presence during Ashoura was to provide additional assistance in securing the procession,” a source with knowledge of the deployment told The Daily Star.
“They have received high-level of training and are equipped very well and have good combat skills,” the source said. “It is one of the elite units, that is correct.”
News of the deployment of Hezbollah’s Special Forces went viral, with social media users circulating pictures of individual soldiers, whose faces were hidden behind the masks, apparently taken surreptitiously by curious onlookers.