Hezbollah is reportedly grooming children for martyrdom through its Mahdi Scouts, preparing them for jihad missions, according to a recent report by Lebanon’s MTV network.
Hezbollah, the U.S.-designated terrorist organization based in Lebanon, is allegedly exploiting children through its Mahdi Scouts program to prepare them for jihad missions, which often lead to their deaths. This claim was highlighted in a recent report by Lebanon’s MTV television network, which was translated by the Washington, D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
The report emerges amid ongoing U.S.-brokered peace talks between Israel and Lebanon. It asserts that Hezbollah not only recruits child fighters but also glorifies their sacrifices by providing them with heroes’ funerals and publicly celebrating their lives to inspire other children to follow suit. According to the MTV report, Hezbollah believes that every drop of blood shed by child soldiers brings them closer to victory.
Furthermore, the report indicates that Hezbollah uses its scout movement to cultivate a generation of obedient children who are indoctrinated with rhetoric that glorifies death and martyrdom. The MEMRI translation of the MTV report states that “Hezbollah child soldiers have been used since the 1980s by this outlaw armed group, not just as armed fighters but as Khomeini-loyal scouts.” This reference points to the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, who reportedly utilized Iranian children during the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988.
Matthew Levitt, a prominent scholar on Hezbollah from the Washington Institute, noted that “Hezbollah’s recruitment and radicalization of youth through its Mahdi Scouts is long documented.” Other experts have also corroborated this assertion. Mideast expert Walid Phares emphasized that Hezbollah operates a scout program that teaches children about jihad, a fact well-known in Lebanon.
Phares described these children as “children jihadists” who are being groomed to become full-fledged Hezbollah fighters. He explained that their roles often involve spying and transporting ammunition. Phares further argued that if these scouts receive funding from a ministry or a national boy scouts association in Lebanon, they should face sanctions if evidence of their activities is substantiated.
Efforts to reach the World Organization of the Scouting Movement (WOSM) for comment were unsuccessful. The U.S. branch of WOSM referred inquiries to its headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Sarit Zehavi, a Hezbollah expert from the Israel Alma Research and Education Center, called for action against the exploitation of children by the terrorist group. She stated, “The only way to bring about change is to designate all of these allegedly civilian activities of Hezbollah and close the movement of its scouts. This would enable the Shiites of Lebanon to access services—educational, formal, or informal—that are part of the Lebanese state rather than Hezbollah.” Zehavi emphasized that loyalty should lie with the Lebanese state, not with Khomeini or the Islamic Republic.
She added that significant international pressure, particularly from the United States, would be necessary for Lebanon to implement such changes.
In a related statement, Israeli diplomat Tammy Rahamimoff-Honig expressed her outrage on social media, stating, “Hezbollah sacrifices Lebanese children to further the ambitions of the Iranian regime. This isn’t ‘resistance’. It’s child abuse.”
Lebanon’s Ambassador to the United States declined to comment on the allegations presented in the report.
The situation highlights the ongoing challenges Lebanon faces in addressing the influence of Hezbollah and the implications for its youth, as the organization continues to intertwine its militant objectives with the lives of children.
According to Fox News Digital, the recruitment and radicalization of children by Hezbollah remain a pressing concern for both regional stability and international observers.