The Hezbollah Branch 'Everyone Can Join'

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• Usman is a Sunni Muslim. He also fights alongside Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

• “Lebanon is my country ... I am patriotic. I wanted to join the resistance and Hezbollah came by and they offered the ideology of resistance,” Usman, whose whole family is Sunni and supports Hezbollah

• Saraya al-Muqawama (Resistance Brigades), a nondenominational military wing of Hezbollah made for Lebanese fighters whose religion -- or lack thereof -- makes it impossible for them to join the so-called Party of God

• Sunni Muslims are not the only ones to join up: Christians and nonpracticing Shiites who subscribe to Hezbollah’s brand of violent resistance can also join the nondenominational brigade.

• In Syria, Saraya fighters are not fighting on the front lines, but constitute small units whose roles are primarily logistical and symbolic; aligning with different sects allows Hezbollah to enter Sunni and Christian areas without risking religiously motivated clashes.

• is there for us to make sure [ the other sects in Syria] are with us and not against us,” a high-ranking Hezbollah official

• Sunnis, Christians and other sects in Saraya are trained in the same camps as Shia Muslims.

• Recruits are treated as equals in military training, but the brigades receive different ideological training.

• Saraya focuses on explaining to recruits that their enemies are “the Zionists and now the takfiri

• In the last year, Ramadan said, the number of Sunni recruits has been increasing “because we see the barbarians [Islamic State] across the border. It’s easier to fight the enemy at his house than when he reaches your home.”