THE SHIITE JIHAD IN SYRIA AND ITS REGIONAL EFFECTS

BUILDING AN ARMY FOR ZAINAB n 33
PHONE BANK RECRUITMENT THEMES
Conversations between recruiters and potential Shiite militia members often
covered the following:
• Questions about the caller’s place of origin, including town, city, and ethnonational
background.
• Mixed messages in response to questions about whether Sunnis were permitted
to participate. In three of five calls made in which the caller claimed to
be Sunni, he was told to offer prayers and was not asked further questions.
• Questions about the caller’s wishes to defend Sayyeda Zainab.
• The question “How did you come across this particular phone number?”
• If a caller cited Facebook as the source, the recruiter asked for the exact
page URL and time accessed. This was particularly the case for PCMDSZ
and the Badr Organization. Recruiters also often asked how the caller found
the Facebook page, and when and where the phone number was discovered.
• Further questions regarding the caller’s faith, often to confirm he was Shiite.
Questions were often asked at random during calls, including to name all the
martyred Shiite Imam Hussein’s sons or Imam Ali’s children.
• When asked about the ideology of absolute velayat-e faqih and its role vis-àvis
Shiite recruits, some of the recruiters (five of twelve) responded favorably.
However, most reoriented the discussion to the “defense of the [Sayyeda
Zainab] shrine” or the “defense of the Shiites.”
• Potential Western recruits (from Germany, the United States, and Sweden)
were not discouraged but were often heavily scrutinized. Some recruiters
would explain they wanted “brothers” from the region but would accept the
caller’s “prayers for the mujahedin.”
• Details on training, weapons systems, deployment times, and cash payments
from recruits went unanswered.
• Written proof demonstrating the caller’s positive qualities was not requested.
Still, it was suggested during some calls that the caller arrive at a local office
to confirm his identity.
• Often, while a particular group was publicly promoting certain phone numbers,
those answering the calls would rarely refer to the group or answer
questions about it.
ing would take place in Iran or Lebanon, the recruiter simply responded, “You
will learn to defend the Lady [Zainab] and defeat [the] villainous force.” 182
Calls to the provided phone numbers also helped offer an early confirmation
that Iranian proxy groups had changed their regional focus. During a
May 15, 2014, call, when a PCMDSZ recruiter was asked if it would be problematic
for a Lebanese living in the West to join forces “defending Sayyeda
Zainab,” the recruiter responded, “We are looking for brothers here in Iraq.”
Asked to elaborate, the recruiter added, “Takfiri forces are trying to conquer