Media: Iraqi group ready to send 100,000 fighters to Lebanon

Secretary-General of the Iraqi Shiite group Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, Abu Alaa Al-Walai, has said that the group is ready to support Hezbollah with weapons and funds.

“We are on the starting line and waiting for your signal to raise arms. If you lose 1,000 martyrs, we will provide you with 100,000 heroes," Al-Walai wrote by addressing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah amid recent explosions in Lebanon, Caliber.Az reports, citing foreign media. 

He stated that the group is also prepared to support Hezbollah with weapons and funds. The attack on September 18, which killed 25 people, came as Lebanon was still shocked and angered by what happened the day before, when thousands of pagers exploded in a synchronised attack, after users received a message they believed had come from Hezbollah.

The devices detonated as people were in shops, or with their families at home, killing 12, including an eight-year-old girl who went to pick up the pager for her father, and an 11-year-old boy. Around 2,800 others were wounded, with hundreds needing surgery.  

Treating some of the injured, Dr Elias Warrak said at least 60 people of the people he had seen after September 17 blasts had lost at least one eye, with many also losing a finger or a whole hand. He described it as "the worst day of [his] life as a physician".  

"I believe the number of casualties and the type of damage that has been done is humongous," he said.

"Unfortunately, we were not able to save a lot of eyes, and unfortunately the damage is not limited to the eyes – some of them have damage in the brain in addition to any facial damage."

By Naila Huseynova