Басидж: Иранское народное ополчение

Iranian paramilitary volunteer militia

The Basij (بسيج, lit. "The Mobilization") or Niru ye Moghāvemat e Basij (نیروی مقاومت بسیج, "Resistance Mobilization Force"), full name Sâzmân e Basij e Mostaz'afin (سازمان بسیج مستضعفین, "The Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed"), is a paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and one of its five branches. The force is named Basij; an individual member is called basiji in the Persian language. as of 2019, Gholamreza Soleimani is the commander of the Basij. A paramilitary volunteer militia established in Iran in 1979 by order of Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of the Iranian Revolution, the organization originally consisted of civilian volunteers, often from poor, rural backgrounds, who were urged by Khomeini to fight in the Iran–Iraq War. Khomeini would occasionally refer to Basij as "The Twenty Million Army", claiming that about 75% of the time's population are Basijis. He would elaborate saying, that a country with 20 million of its people as their army, will be undefeatable. Basij was an independent organization until 17 February 1981, when it was officially incorporated into the Revolutionary Guards organization structure by the Iranian Parliament in order to end the interservice rivalry between the two, according to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Today, the force consists of young Iranians, usually drawn from the traditionally religious and politically loyalist parts of Iran's society, the Basij serve as an auxiliary force engaged in enforcing state control over society, acting as a morality police at checkpoints and parks, and suppressing dissident gathering, The force was often present and reacting to the widespread 2009 Iranian election protests, 2017–18 Iranian protests, and the 2022 2023 Mahsa Amini protests. The Basij are subordinate to and receive their orders from the IRGC and the Supreme Leader of Iran, but also called a "profound source of disquiet and rancor" among the general public in Iran.

Basij (بسيج) is a Persian word defined variously as mobilization, public preparation, nation will and popular determination, and the unity and preparation of the people to do important works. Mustazafin or peasants means shia muslims who inherit the earth in Khamenei's speech while Khomeini had associated a universal invincible Islamic political party made of muslim people.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for the foundation of a youth militia in November 1979, during the Iranian Revolution. The Basij may best be known for their employment of human wave attacks which cleared minefields or drew the enemy's fire. It is estimated that tens of thousands were killed through the use of this tactic. The typical human wave tactic was for Basijis (often very lightly armed and unsupported by artillery or air power) to march forward in straight rows. While casualties were high, the tactic often worked when employed against poorly trained members of the Iraqi regular army. According to Dilip Hiro, by the spring of 1983 the Basij had trained 2.4 million Iranians in the use of arms and sent 450,000 to the front. In 1985 the IRNA put the number of Basijis at 3 million, quoting from Hojjatoleslam Rahmani. In 1988, college Basiji organizations were established on college campuses to fight "Westoxification" and potential student agitation against the government. Part of the Basij revival was an emphasis on concepts such as Development Basij (Basij e Sazandegi), Other sources describe the Ansar e Hezbollah as part of the Basij.

One foreign conflict the Basij were involved in was on the side of the IRI's ally the Syrian Baathist regime. A Western analyst believed thousands of Iranian paramilitary Basij fighters were stationed in Syria as of December 2013. Syria's geopolitical importance to Iran and its role as one of Iran's crucial allies prompted the involvement of Basij militiamen in the ongoing Syrian Civil War. The Basij militia, similar to Hezbollah fighters, work with the Syrian army against rebel forces. Such involvement poses new foreign policy challenges for a number of countries across the region, particularly Israel and Turkey as Iran's influence becomes more than just ideological and monetary on the ground in the Syrian conflict. The Basij involvement in the Syrian Civil War reflects previous uses of the militia as a proxy force for Iranian foreign policy in an effort to assert Iranian dominance in the region and frightens Salim Idriss, head of the Free Syrian Army.

Iran has seen a series of political/social/economic protest movements during the 21st century that its security forces have been active in crushing—the July 1999 student protests, 2009 presidential election protests, protests in 2011–2012, 2019–2020 and the 2022 2023 Mahsa Amini protests. When protests erupt, the Basij often act as the state's "iron fist". In 2010, an anonymous Norwegian student doing research in Iran claims he witnessed gruesome atrocities inside a Basij camp after being abducted by the unit while riding on a bus. According to the account the student gave to Norwegian embassy officials, he witnessed detained political dissidents being 'disemboweled', burned to death, and deliberately crushed by a riot control truck. During the protests, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei created the Haydaryan, a new paramilitary force specifically dedicated to preserving his position; several of the founding Haydaryan members came from the Basij.

According to Reuters, Basij were at the "forefront" of the Islamic Republic's efforts to stamp out the protests over the death of Mahsa Amini and related lack of political and social freedoms the country. These protests, starting in September 2022 and dying out the following spring, led to over 500 deaths, including the deaths of 68 minors as of 2023. according to the non profit organization Iran Human Rights Unlike some earlier protests they were "nationwide, spread across social classes, universities, the streets [and] schools". Journalist and human rights activists have cataloged a number of serious human rights violations used to crush the unrest by the Basij and other IRI security forces. These included forced confessions, threats to uninvolved family members, and torture, including electric shocks, controlled drowning, and mock execution (based on CNN interviews); sexual violence/rape (based on testimony and social media videos corroborated by a CNN investigation), “systematic" attempts to blind protesters by shooting at their eye with projectiles such as "pellets, teargas canisters, paintball bullets" (activist media group IranWire documented at least 580 cases). Using ambulances to transport security forces and kidnapped protesters under the guise of rushing injured civilians to receive emergency medical attention. The Iranian state media reports that security forces such as the Basij were targeted and killed by "rioters and gangs" mainly the members of a specific unknown organization that orchestrated this whole protest (However, according to BBC Persian service, these figures may not be reliable as some of those reported by state media to be loyalist Basij militiamen killed by the "rioters", were actually protesters killed by security forces, whose families were pressured by security forces to go along with the false reporting, threatening them with death if they failed to cooperate.)

Basij form the fifth branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Different sources divide the Basij into different categories. As of 2011, according to Saeid Golkar, there are "seventeen different Basij suborganizations (for students, workers, employees, engineers, etc.)". Tehran Bureau also lists a "Guilds Basij Division" (Basij e Asnaf), and a "Labor Basij" (Basij e Karegaran).

Estimates of the number of Basij vary, with its leadership giving higher figures than outside commentators. Official estimates are as high as 23.8 million. A scholar of the Basij, Saeid Golkar, estimates their total membership at approximately one million, and their security forces in the tens of thousands.

According to the US Treasury, the Basij have a multi billion dollar "covert network" of businesses. In 1996, six organizations were put under the control of the Basij Cooperative Foundation (BCF)
The Basijis Housing Institution (Moassesseh ye Tamin e Maskan e Basijian). The Basijis Medical Institution (Moassesseh ye Tamin e darman e Basijian). The Basijis No Interest Loan Institute (Moassesseh ye Gharz al Hassaneh ye Basijian). The Basijis Consumer Goods Provision Institution (Moassesseh ye Tamin e Aghlam e Masrafi ye Basijian). The Cultural Artistic Institute of the Warriors of Islam (Moassesseh ye Farhangi Honari ye Razmandegan e Eslam). The Scientific and Pedagogic Services Institute of the Fighters (Moassesseh ye Khadamat e Elmi va Amouzeshi ye Razmandegan). The Ashura Brigades were created in 1993. These Islamic brigades were made up of both Revolutionary Guards and the Basij and by 1998 numbered 17,000.

While some joined the Basij because of genuine religious convictions, or loyalty to their pro regime and traditional religious family and community background, others reportedly join Basij only to take advantage of the benefits of membership and to get admission to university or as a tool to get promotion in government jobs. Supreme Leader Khamenei described Basij as "the greatest hope of the Iranian nation" and "an immaculate tree".