(Beirut) A video showing fighters from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement on skis in the mountains sparked an avalanche of ironic comments on social networks on Wednesday.
Posted at 1:33 p.m.
In a two-minute video that has been circulating the web since Tuesday evening, Hezbollah fighters carry out military exercises on skis and snowmobiles in a mountainous region in southern Lebanon, near the border with Israel.
At the origin of this video, Hezbollah swapped its usual colors – yellow and black – for white blending into the snow. Even the flag of the movement has been modified.
Internet users immediately drew a parallel with the Winter Olympics currently being held in China.
“They are all preparing for the Beijing Olympics! I would have liked to see them on sleds, too bad, ”launched a user on Twitter.
“2022 Olympics. Hezbollah version,” quipped another.
Others were amused to see hidden support for Ukrainian troops, while Washington fears the invasion of Ukraine by neighboring Russia.
“Hezbollah offers its services to Ukraine? Good marketing,” one Twitter user quipped.
Hezbollah is a pro-Iranian Shiite armed movement with an important role in Lebanese political life, but also the only Lebanese faction not to have abandoned its military arsenal at the end of the civil war (1975-1990), in the name of the “resistance” against Israel.
Some Internet users have also seen in this video a hidden message intended for the Jewish State. “Be careful, the Galilee is not far,” warned one of them.
The Israeli newspaper The Jerusalem Post noted that Hezbollah fighters wore the same “white uniforms” as the “Israeli army’s reserve Alpine unit”. Israel and Hezbollah fought a 34-day war in Lebanon in 2006.
On Tuesday evening, the Lebanese army also posted a video on the Internet showing soldiers training in the snow.
“What a coincidence”, sarcastically noted Internet users.