Iran regime said to unleash Hezbollah and Iraqi militias as uprising spreads
Hezbollah and Iraqi militia forces secretly crossed border as demonstrations spread to 200+ cities across 26 provinces
By Efrat Lachter Fox News
Published January 8, 2026 10:50am EST
As anti-regime protests spread across Iran for a 12th straight day, the Islamic Republic has reportedly turned to foreign militias for support, with two independent sources confirming that roughly 850 Hezbollah, Iraqi militia and Quds Force-linked fighters crossed into Iran to bolster the regime’s security forces.
The reported movement marks a significant escalation in the regime’s response, signaling a willingness to rely on allied foreign militias with combat experience to help suppress domestic dissent.
"This is nothing new for the regime. It is the logical extension of a playbook the ruling clerics have used since 1979 to outsource repression to ideologically loyal militias and then integrate them into the state’s coercive infrastructure," Iran expert Lisa Daftari told Fox News Digital.
"From the Basij and Revolutionary Guard, which were built to crush internal dissent under the banner of defending the revolution, to today’s deployment of foreign proxies like Hezbollah and Iraqi Popular Mobilization units, the regime is signaling once again that it treats its own population the way it has long treated regional battlefields. The message is clear: The mullahs don’t care about the Iranian people. They are willing to go to any extent to blur the line between domestic policing and transnational militancy to preserve their grip on power."
Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the reported use of foreign proxy forces could reflect growing concerns within the regime about internal cohesion among Iran’s own security services.
"Since protests dating back to 2009, there were always allegations of Arabic being heard on the street," Ben Taleblu told Fox News Digital. "As the contest between the state and the street continues to heat up, all eyes will be on Iran’s security forces to see if they defect or disobey orders to crack down. The problem is, so is the regime. And to that end, the Islamic Republic may have devised a failsafe for itself against popular anger. Foreign proxies. Whether Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite militias, or the Afghan Fatemiyoun, their function would be the same: to fire on Iranians when other Iranians won’t."
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