AFP hunts for seven pro-Hezbollah protesters

Police have released images of seven protesters they hope to identify after displaying outlawed Hezbollah flags and pictures of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah at a Melbourne rally.

Protesters display Hezbollah flags and pictures of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah at a Melbourne rally on September 29. Picture: Valeriu Campan/NewsWire

The Australian Federal Police have released images of seven protesters they hope to identify after displaying outlawed Hezbollah flags and pictures of slain leader Hassan Nasrallah in Melbourne over the weekend.

Detectives from the Counter Terrorism and Special Investigations Command centre in Victoria established Operation Ardvana on Thursday after a group of protesters paraded through the streets of Melbourne on Sunday brandishing the terrorist group’s flags.

Image one released by the AFP.

Image two released by the AFP.

Among the seven men police are looking for is the Iranian national who identified himself on social media as Arashi Rahbari.

The Australian revealed on Thursday the Iranian national as one of the leading organisers of the pro-Hezbollah rally, who claimed in one of his social media posts that Australia was a pathetic “tyrannical terrorist regime”.

Image three released by the AFP.

Image four released by the AFP.

Many of the protesters were seen wearing Hezbollah emblems while waving the terrorist group’s flag, which is inscribed with “Hezbollah will be victorious” in Arabic. Some were carrying photos of Nasrallah, emblazoned with “we belong to Allah and to him we shall return”.

Image five released by the AFP.

Image six released by the AFP.

The group of mostly young men was filmed chanting “labayka ya Nasrallah”, which translates to “at your service, Nasrallah” or “here I am, Nasrallah”. The slogan expresses the willingness to dedicate the life of the individual and the community to defend the leader of the group, who must be obeyed, even to the point of death.

Image seven released by the AFP.

Other chants heard include “no more USA, no more Israel, no more Saudi Arabia.

This week, 30-year old Australian-Lebanese man named as Yousef Tiba told The Australian he was not afraid of police prosecution and declared Hezbollah as a “resistance group”.

It is understood Hezbollah flags and framed pictures of Nasrallah were being handed out to protesters attending the rally at the weekend.

In Sydney, adults and children carried posters of Nasrallah. A couple of others were seen holding and wearing Hezbollah flags. One woman held a poster showing assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and Nasrallah under the words “A nation led by martyrs will triumph”.

The symbols and words on the Hezbollah flag express its ideology and goals, including a verse from the Koran that indicates Hezbollah considers itself the “party of God”. The globe sitting under a rifle refers to the party’s ambitions, which includes establishing control over the world through the use of force.

Flaunting Hezbollah’s symbols is illegal under section 80.2 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. The group is recognised around the world as a terrorist organisation and has been firing rockets at Israel since Hamas launched its deadly wave of attacks on October 7 last year. They were suspected of laying siege to cities across Syria on behalf of Bashar al-Assad’s regime and accused of appointing members of Islamic Jihad responsible for the 1983 US embassy bombing in Beirut.

Anyone with information is encouraged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.