THE SHIITE JIHAD IN SYRIA AND ITS REGIONAL EFFECTS

4 n THE SHIITE JIHAD IN SYRIA
their narratives. 5 Given its location in southern Damascus, with the international
airport to its east, the shrine’s strategic value cannot be overlooked,
Fighting around the shrine has been sporadic, surging at times, and as early
as August 2012, reports emerged of the kidnapping nearby of forty-eight Iranians.
6 While Iran claimed those kidnapped were merely pilgrims, rebels said
they were all members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 7
The site’s prominence in the view of Shiite fighters is further evidenced by
the shrill, mantra-like chant “Labayk ya Zainab!” (At your service, O Zainab!),
sung regularly at funerals for Lebanese Hezbollah members and Iraqi Shiites
killed in Syria. 8 Propaganda songs produced by Iraqi Shiite organizations
and Hezbollah have also featured the slogan. 9 In fact, the early presence of
Iraqi Shiite fighters in Syria was largely heralded by a music video containing
combat footage and set to “Ya Zainab,” a song by the Iraqi Shiite Islamist
singer Ali Muwali, who is associated with Liwa al-Youm al-Mawud. 10 Asaib
Ahl al-Haqq (AAH), an Iraqi Shiite proxy of Iran that funnels fighters to
Syria, employed the slogan in large lettering in a photo showing the organization’s
logo and one of its leaders. 11 And on less militant Shiite social media
sites, especially Facebook, “Labayk ya Zainab” has emerged in meme-type
images of individuals around the world holding signs in support of Shiite
militias fighting in Syria. 12 This campaign has promoted a broader acceptance
of the narrative that Shiite militias fighting in Syria are there for religiously
based defensive purposes.
The historical explanation for the primacy of the site, whose dome figures
largely in martyrdom posters for Shiite fighters killed while fighting in
Syria, 13 can be traced to Zainab herself, the sister of Shiite Islam’s martyred
third imam, Hussein. For Twelver Shiites—the Shiite majority—Zainab
has saintlike status. 14 Following Hussein’s defeat at the Battle of Karbala—
a battle that confirmed the split between Sunni and Shiite Islam—Zainab
was taken to Damascus by Yazid, the Umayyad leader and Hussein’s killer. 15
Edith Szanto explains, “Zainab courageously confronted the Umayyad caliph
in Damascus and spread the message of Husayn by conducting commemorative
mourning gatherings at which pious Shiite listened to the story of
Karbala, cried, and, at times, performed self-flagellation.” 16 According to Syed
Akbar Haydar, “Zainab is its feminine face” of martyrdom, 17 thus explaining
the shrine’s symbolic resonance today for Shiite Muslims.
In this narrative, the rebels are often likened to the evil Yazid. In some Shiite
militia imagery, Zainab is shown giving her symbolic speech or pointing
her finger at the Saudi king Abdullah, who supports the rebels and makes for