Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — Hizbullah has formed another Shi’ite militia to fight for
the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Hizbullah has organized Syrian Shi’ites into a militia called the
Zulfiqar Battalion. On June 5, the battalion announced that it would protect
Shi’ite shrines in the Damascus area.

“We have been assigned to protect religious shines, especially the Saydah Zaynab [shrine],” the battalion said.

In a statement, Zulfiqar became the second Shi’ite militia formed by Hizbullah in Syria. Earlier in 2013, the Iranian proxy organized the Abu Fadl Al Abbas Battalion, which fought in the battle that captured the
Sunni rebel help of Qusair.

Opposition sources said Zulfiqar stemmed from Abu Fadl. On their Facebook page, many of the photographs that presented Zulfiqar were actually taken from Abu Fadl. The two militias share a similar logo.

“We know that these are Hizbullah fronts that use the same foreign
fighters, most of them from Iraq,” a source said.

The sources said Zulfiqar fighters include those from such
Iranian-sponsored militias as Hizbullah Brigades and the militia loyal to
Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Muqtada Sadr. They said the Iraqi Shi’ites, many of
them believed trained in Iran, were believed to have arrived in Iraq in
2012.

In its statement, Zulfiqar identified its commanders as Abu Shahed and
Abu Hajar. Both of these names were reported as leaders of Abu Fadl.

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