Iraqis fight to the death to defend Shia shrines in Syria

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - In Damascus, Shia men from Iraq fight to the death to defend the Shia shrine of Sayyida Zaynab, the daughter of Ali and Fatimah and the grand-daughter of the Prophet Mohamed. Sattar Khalaf, an Iraqi wounded in Damascus, says: “Fighting in Syria is just to defend the shrines of the Prophet’s family.”Iraqi fighters cross into Syria by land, though the road via the Sunni Anbar province is so dangerous that they fly instead by plane to Damascus from Baghdad or Najaf. Flights have been easier since the Syrian army cleared the area around the international airport. Sattar Khalaf, a 43-year-old from Baghdad who was part of 200-strong detachment travelling on five buses, says, “When we got into Syrian territory we were escorted by Syrian troops along the long road that was under the control of the army.”He joined a group whose overall leader was an Iranian colonel. “The day I entered the shrine of Sayyida Zaynab I joined a group of a dozen fighters and our job was to plant bombs on road sides surrounding the area where the shrine is.” Other fighters with him were told to make hit-and-run attacks using rocket-propelled grenade launchers or to take part in street fighting.He says, “In April I was hit in my shoulder while fighting near the airport and was taken back to Baghdad. Once I recover from my wound I will continue jihad in defending the shrine of Sayyida Zaynab.” He reckons between 12 and 20 Iraqi volunteers are being killed in Syria every month.The Iraqi volunteers fighting in Syria are not as significant militarily as the experienced and battle-hardened Hezbollah units from Lebanon. They have played an important role as assault troops in capturing the strategic town of Qusayr near Homs, and in aiding the Syrian army in its advance into rebel-held parts of south Damascus. /149