BBC: The Basij militia is an Iranian volunteer force of Islamic government loyalists which is often called out onto the streets at times of crisis to dispel dissent.
The force was originally set up by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 as a resistance force during the Iran-Iraq war.
They received limited training and were used for "human wave" attacks, for example being asked to clear Iraqi minefields by walking across them.
The size of the militia is an open question.
Many Iranian officials cite 20m - the number that Ayatollah Khomeini once suggested would be an invincible force - but independent estimates put the force at as little as 400,000.
A 2005 study by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in the United States, estimated 90,000 full-time, uniformed, active-duty Basij members and 300,000 reservists.
There are also believed to about a million affiliates who can could be mobilized if need be.
The Basij-e Mostaz'afin, (literally Mobilization of the Oppressed in Farsi), officially known as the Basij Resistance Force (Nirouye Moqavemate Basij), has branches in every town.
It is commanded by a senior cleric and is an auxiliary arm of the powerful Iranian Revolutionary Guard. >>> | Thursday, June 18, 2009
