FACT CHECK: Image Claims To Show Afghan Fighters Joining Hezbollah

An image shared on Facebook claims to show Afghan fighters joining Hezbollah.

Verdict: False

The image is from 2018 and took place in Syria.

Fact Check:

Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in retaliation for an alleged Israeli drone strike that killed two members of the militant group, according to The New York Times. The rocket fire killed two people, the outlet reported.

Social media users are claiming to show an image of Afghan fighters going to join Hezbollah. One user partially wrote, “Thousands of additional Afghan fighters from the Fatemiyoun Brigade have arrived in Syria to bolster Hezbollah’s ranks if needed – I24.”

The image accompanying the post is not recent. Through a reverse image search, Check Your Fact found that the image was taken in 2018 and published in an April 2018 report from the Salaam Times.

“Members of the IRGC-backed Afghan Fatemiyoun Division march up a hill in this updated photo from Syria, where they are fighting, with the Russian military’s help, to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Iran’s sectarian interests,” reads the image description.

The U.S. Institute for Peace described the organization as “a pro-Assad force organized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for the ostensible purpose of protecting Shia holy sites” in a 2019 report.

There is also no evidence that i24 News reported that the thousands of fighters from the brigade were arriving in Syria to help Hezbollah. A search of i24 News’ website did not yield any such report.

Misbar and NewsMobile also researched this claim and found it to be false. (Related: Fact-Checking Biden’s Claim That Trump Referred To Veterans As ‘Suckers And Losers’)