Shiite soldier sends message to ISIS

FROM IRAQ WITHOUT LOVE: An Iraqi soldier crouching in full uniform sends a message in a social media post on Tuesday to the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham, the Al-Qaeda offshoot that captured Mosul, Tikrit and Tel Afar in Iraq last week.

“We’re coming, ISIS, from Syria to Iraq,” the sign reads, “in the name of Zeinab,” invoking the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad whose tomb in Damascus hundreds of Shiite soldiers, including those from Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan,  have flocked to Syria to protect during the conflict. The Sayeda Zeinab Shrine is considered sacred by Shiites and has been a destination for mass pilgrimage since the 1980’s.

Hundreds of Iraqi Shiite soldiers are beginning to return home from their stations in Damascus and Aleppo to fight the extremist Sunni group ISIS,  

In response to the departure of Iraqi soldiers, Hezbollah last week announced the mobilization of more than 1,000 fighters to send to Damascus.

The above photograph was published on a pro-opposition Syrian facebook account. Comments under the post of the armed Iraqi soldier include “From Syria…you speak as if it were your country” and “an American gun, death to America.”

Photo courtesy of Tahrir Souri.  

-June 17, 2014