Thousands of Iran-backed fighters offer to join Hezbollah in its fight against Israel

By BASSEM MROUE and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) — Iran-backed groups in the Middle East say thousands of their fighters are offering to come to Lebanon to join with the militant Hezbollah group in its battle with Israel. The offer comes amid fears the situation could escalate into a full-blown war along Israel’s northern frontier with Lebanon that has seen almost daily exchanges since the Hamas attack on southern Israel in early October. Iran-backed groups from Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and other countries fought alongside Syrian government forces during Syria’s 13-civil war. Hezbollah’s leader says it has enough fighters and doesn’t need foreigners to join. Israeli officials have threatened a military offensive in Lebanon if there is no negotiated end to push Hezbollah away from the border.