Defenders of the Shrine: Rise of Anti-terror Fighters in Syria

The congress kicked off with a message from the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei and a meeting of him of with families of martyrs, veterans, and fighters of this sacred defense. 

In his meeting with the staff members of this international congress, the Leader said that the "move of the shrine defenders warded off a tremendous danger for the region and especially from our country. If the insecurity caused by Daesh (ISIS) or the other groups that fought beside them or rivaled them in Syria and Iraq existed today with the same organization, the whole region, including Iran, would have lost its security. Without any doubt, we should have expected attacks like those of Shiraz and Kerman. The same would also have been in Syria and Iraq, until they [takfiris and terrorists] sieze the governance. This danger was thwarted by the defenders of the shrine."

Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, too, sent a message to the congress, read by his representative Sayyed Abdullah Safiaddin.

The message read:" Today, oppressed nations and resistance movements everywhere, after God, rely on this powerful supporter [Islamic Republic of Iran] that not only does not abandon its friends and brothers, but also does not trade them and does not betray them, and never fails to help them. Its great commanders sacrifice their lives in this direction, just like the great commander Martyr General Qassam Soleimani and commanders such as Zahedi, Hijazi, Hamdani, Mousavi, Irlu and Haji Rahimi and many others did.

"In all areas and countries of the Axis of Resistance, we should understand well the achievements and victories, especially after the Islamic Revolution of Iran that were accumulated. We should well understand these victories that were gained with blood of tens of thousands of children of the dear nations over time. We should well understand all the victories gained by the Resistance camp on all fronts. We should well understand all the today sacrifices in the Gaza Strip and Palestine of tens of thousands of martyrs and the wounded under displacement, starvation, blockade, and massacre. We should well understand the assistance to them by the resistance in Lebanon Iraq, and Yemen."

An overview of rise of defenders of shrine

After eruption of the Syrian home conflict and involvement of the takfiri terrorists, the Syrian government engaged in an unwanted war against the takfiri terrorists. For example, Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, in May 2013 exhumed the tomb of prominent seventh century Shiite commander Hujr Ibn Adi and threatened to destroy the shrine of Hazrat Zaynab, the daughter of the first Shiite Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, in Damascus.

As the terrorism war unfolded, the shrines of Shiite imams and prominent figures, especially Hazrat Zaynab, were exposed to danger of destruction by takfiris. At this time, the defenders of the shrine began to rise, specifically from January 2013.

Indeed, with the reaction of Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah and deployment of forces to protect the holy shrines, the terrorist groups active in Syria tried to blow up Hazrat Zaynab's shrine with an explosive-laden truck in an attack, but their truck exploded before entering the parking near the shrine, and so the suicide operation failed. Nasrallah said in a statement after this incident: "There are people who defend this shrine and are ready to be martyred to defend it. They prevent sedition. Prevention of control of the armed groups over Hazrat Zaynab shrine is a duty." 

After this incident, Hezbollah published a statement, announcing its serious presence in Syria. In the meantime, defenders from Iraq, Syria, and Iran joined the Lebanese fellows. In June 2013, Mashhad Al-Saghat, the shrine of Mohsen, the son of the third Shiite Imam Hussein bin Ali, came under attack of Syrian opposition forces. After this incident, groups were formed to protect the shrine of Sakina, the daughter of Imam Hussein. 

Abu al-Fadhl al-Abbas Brigade was formed in 2013 in Iraq and deployed to Syria to protect Hazrat Zaynab shrine. The phrase "defenders of the shrine" went common from May 2013 in the Persian language and society and symbolized a force fighting ISIS and takfiri thought. 

Defenders of the shrine is the largest Shiite paramilitary group supported by Syria, Iraq's Public Mobilization Forces, Afghanistan's Fatemiyoun Division, Iran's Quds Force, and Pakistan's Heydaryoun, which aims to defend pure Islam and fight against the destruction of shrines of hl al-Bayt (family of Prophet Muhammad), especially Hazrat Zaynab. The criteria of this group is faith in Islam, confronting takfiri terrorists and accepting the leadership of wali al-faqih (leading religious authority), which is Iran's Supreme Leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei. Since its formation in 2013, this group has had many battles with takfiri groups, the most important of which was cleansing Zaynabiyeh neighborhood of Damascus of takfiris and fighting terrorists in Syria and Iraq. 

After years of fighting, the defenders of the shrine managed to force the terrorists back from Zaynabiyeh neighborhood and to liberate the Shiite-majority regions of Syria from under the control of barbarous takfiris. 

The defenders of the shrine, in addition to military activities, have extensive social and public benefit activities in Zaynabiyeh neighborhood, and a number of them are present in the shrine for service. The defenders of the shrine have always held contacts with the Syrian government as part of the Axis of Resistance against Israel. 

Direct role of the US in ISIS formation according to WikiLeaks founder 

Julian Paul Assange in a statement published in 2016, explained that the roots of the ISIS go back to 1979. According to Assange, the decision of the CIA and Saudi Arabia to arm the mujahideen fighters in Afghanistan to fight against the Soviet Red Army led to the creation of Al-Qaeda after the departure of Osama bin Laden to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan. The organization of Salafis under Al-Qaeda finally led to the 9/11 attacks. Under the pretext of these attacks, the US invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, which created a power vacuum in the occupied Iraq and eventually led to the formation of ISIS. 

Though Assange elaborated on the historical course of rise of ISIS, the group rose to existence with an official name and members after the Arab Spring in 2011 amid spreading conflict in Syria. 

ISIS was first formed in Iraq with the participation of the remnants of the Iraqi Baath Party and the Salafis and takfiris who had gathered in Iraq from different parts of the world with the careful planning of the US and the direct support of some Arab countries, and quickly expanded the scope of its activities from Iraq to Syria. 

Actually, it must be said that the US as the head of the Western camp along with Europe since the beginning of Syrian crisis categorized terrorists under good and bad labels and supported the good ones, including ISIS. The West aimed at toppling the Syrian government and so it looked at the terrorists as an instrument serving this objective. 

The role of the defenders of the shrine commanded by General Suleimani in the past decade developments in the region and the influence of their anti-terror battle on the regional stability after obliteration of ISIS should not be ignored. Aware of the dangers of their path, they not only protected the holy shrines and pushed the terrorists away from the Iranian borders, but also with their presence in Syria, they foiled takfiri agenda which targeted the Iranian national security. These sacrifices cost about 7,000 martyred and wounded defenders.