Member of Parliament: Many teenagers are waiting to be sent to Syria and Iraq

The Vice President of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly stated that "at least over one million people" in Iran are waiting to be sent to Syria and Iraq, with a "considerable and very large number" of them being "young and underage teenagers." According to a report on Saturday, December 20, from the Mizan news agency, Abolfazl Hassanbeiki added that these individuals are only waiting for the issuance of a "Jihad order" from the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. He noted that the "enthusiasm and desire of young people and even teenagers" to participate in the war zones of Syria and Iraq has "increased significantly," and due to the registration of "many individuals," there is "a lot of pressure for deployment." A former advisor to the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces explicitly stated that among the "volunteers" for deployment to Syria and Iraq, there is a "considerable and very large number of young and underage teenagers." Hassanbeiki added that Ali Khamenei has issued a religious directive stating that "mature individuals and those of higher age should participate in the fronts in Syria and Iraq." According to the Vice President of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, currently, "just like" during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, "it has been decided that the children of martyrs defending the shrine do not have priority for presence in the fronts and should stay in the country to take care of their martyr's family." Despite presenting these statistics, like other officials of the Islamic Republic, he claimed that the Islamic Republic has two missions in Syria and Iraq: "advisory activities" and "training actions," and the governments of Syria and Iraq have requested help from the Islamic Republic of Iran "to this extent." However, Mr. Hassanbeiki did not explain why this number of "young and teenagers," who seem to lack advisory and training experience, are eager to be present in Syria and Iraq. During the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, a large number of Iranian combatants at the fronts were also young teenagers. The most well-known among them was Hossein Fahmideh, a 13-year-old boy who, according to official narratives, attacked Iraqi tanks by strapping a grenade to himself on November 8, 1980, and was torn apart. Following Fahmideh's death, November 8 was designated as "Student Basij Day," and an organization under the same name was formed under the supervision of the Basij of the Oppressed. This organization, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, has established Basij resistance units in many schools and recruits among teenagers. During this period, over 550,000 students were repeatedly sent to the fronts, and many of them were killed, disabled, captured, or went missing. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, the former head of the Basij Organization, has repeatedly opposed Iran's accession to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, stating that "it is absolutely impossible for us to ask millions of young people who are ready and organized to defend their country to lay down their arms and stop their training and go home. This is a regression, and our Basijis never regress." Ali Fazli, Naqdi's deputy, also stated that by joining this convention, we have "given away our strength and instead we beg." He mentioned that the Islamic Republic lost "36,000 student martyrs" during the eight-year war with Iraq.