400 Fighters Killed in Syria Buried in Iran

The official news agency of the Islamic Republic, IRNA, announced on Friday that 400 members of the forces known as "Defenders of the Shrine of Hazrat Zainab" have been buried in Iran. On Friday, July 5, the agency reported on the funeral of five members of the "Fatimiyoun Brigade" who were killed in the fight against the group known as "Islamic State" or ISIS in Damascus, stating that approximately 400 members of the "Defenders of the Shrine of Hazrat Zainab" have been buried in various locations across Iran. The Fatimiyoun Brigade is one of the military units of Shia Muslims stationed in Syria, and it is said that the majority of its members are Afghan Shia. However, IRNA's report indicates that these five deceased individuals are of Iranian nationality. In another report, IRNA covers the funeral of an official member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the city of Tabriz, who was also among the "Defenders of the Shrine" and was killed in Syria. The term "Defenders of the Shrine" refers to certain members of the IRGC, Basij, and generally, religious Shia forces present in Iraq and Syria, whose stated goal is to defend the shrines of Shia Imams and their descendants. Additionally, the city of Qom witnessed the burial of three more "Defenders of the Shrine" on Friday, with the news agency Tasnim, close to the IRGC, reporting their nationality as Pakistani. The funeral of these three individuals was attended by Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the Deputy Chairman of the Assembly of Experts in Iran. Tasnim reports that another "Defender of the Shrine" was supposed to be buried in this ceremony, but the Islamic State group did not return his body to his family. Meanwhile, the newspaper Khorasan published a report on the funeral of two "Defenders of the Shrine" in the city of Rey. This report states that the representative of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic in the IRGC conveyed the "Greetings" of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to the families of the deceased. In this context, the bodies of three Afghan nationals killed in Syria were buried in Qom, and the funerals of five Pakistanis and six Iranians killed in Syria were held. A commander of the IRGC was killed at the Ramadi front in Iraq. There are 15 groups fighting in Syria and Iraq "on behalf of Iran." Funerals for five Afghans killed in Syria were held in Mashhad.