Funeral held in Basra for Shi'ite militants killed in Syria
- 11 years ago
ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)
STORY: Hundreds of mourners gathered in the southern Iraqi province of Basra on Tuesday for the funeral of four Shi'ite militants killed in fighting in Syria while defending the famed Sayyida Zeinab shrine in Damascus.
As vehicles carried the coffin through the streets, mourners waved banners and held pictures of the militants along with Iranian Ayatollahs Khomainy and Khamenei.
The four fighters were members of the Sayyied al-Shuhdaa brigade that was formed last year to defend Shi'ite shrines in Syria.
Iraqi Shi'ite militants said in April that volunteers are crossing into Syria to fight, often alongside Assad's troops, or to protect the Sayyida Zeinab shrine on the outskirts of Damascus, a particularly holy place for Shi'ites.
But militia leaders, who have mostly been inactive since U.S. troops left Iraq a year ago, have been reluctant to openly acknowledge fighting in Syria, possibly because influential Shi'ite clergy o
STORY: Hundreds of mourners gathered in the southern Iraqi province of Basra on Tuesday for the funeral of four Shi'ite militants killed in fighting in Syria while defending the famed Sayyida Zeinab shrine in Damascus.
As vehicles carried the coffin through the streets, mourners waved banners and held pictures of the militants along with Iranian Ayatollahs Khomainy and Khamenei.
The four fighters were members of the Sayyied al-Shuhdaa brigade that was formed last year to defend Shi'ite shrines in Syria.
Iraqi Shi'ite militants said in April that volunteers are crossing into Syria to fight, often alongside Assad's troops, or to protect the Sayyida Zeinab shrine on the outskirts of Damascus, a particularly holy place for Shi'ites.
But militia leaders, who have mostly been inactive since U.S. troops left Iraq a year ago, have been reluctant to openly acknowledge fighting in Syria, possibly because influential Shi'ite clergy o