The Lebanese terror group Hezbollah has started a crowdfunding campaign in order to finance its activities against Israel, Ynet reported on Thursday.

The Iran-backed militia is looking for funds to purchase weapons and other materiel under the slogan “Money for jihad is a must,” which has been hashtagged on social media. The program, also dubbed “the initiative to arm jihadists,” allows donors to pay by phone, online, or in installments.

Hezbollah’s campaign also claimed that “whoever arms a fighter is considered to have fought,” citing Muslim tradition. According to Hezbollah’s website, “Jihadists who fight in the resistance need clothes and military equipment. This initiative allows you to help equip them.”

Photographs of different pieces of equipment have been uploaded so donors know exactly what weapons they are supporting.

While this isn’t the first time Hezbollah has resorted to public fundraising, the extensive nature of it this time “raises questions about the financial difficulties the group may be suffering flowing from the fighting in Syria against the rebels and other Jihadist groups which is draining them of precious military equipment,” Ynet reported.

Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar observed in The Tower Magazine in December 2016 that Hezbollah is facing financial shortfalls. This is because Iran, its main sponsor, “is also financing other Shi’ite militias in the region, primarily in Iraq. Hezbollah has been forced to reallocate more funds to its military operations in Syria, leading to a serious decline in social services.”

Israelis in recent months undertook a different kind of crowdsourcing, raising over $250,000 in five days to benefit Syrian refugees.

[Photo: Flickr ]