Once a pro-Iran bastion, Damascus shrine district now in rebel hands

Shortly before Sunni Islamist-led rebels swept into the Syrian capital, Iran-backed guards fled their positions at the gates a revered Shiite shrine in a Damascus suburb.

By Wednesday, the few visitors in the area cast worried glances at the new guards of the Sayyida Zeinab shrine in the suburb of the same name, long known as a stronghold of pro-Iran fighters including Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah.

"On Saturday night, the Hezbollah fighters began to leave," said Walid Haji, 45, an armed rebel posted to a checkpoint previously held by the Lebanese group.

Hezbollah fighters had been stationed across a vast perimeter of the shrine, and their homes were often targeted by Israel as it engaged in fierce fighting with the group on its home soil in Lebanon.

Residents said Iranians had reduced their presence in the region over the last three years.

Pictures of slain Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, killed in an Israeli air strike on Beirut in September, have been torn down at the shrine's entrance.

Rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched an offensive on November 27 that saw them seize a string of major cities before taking the capital on Sunday, declaring the end of president Bashar al-Assad's rule.

- Rebels 'gave assurances' -

Inside the shrine, which normally welcomes Shiite pilgrims from across the region, a handful of visitors strolled through the massive, white marble courtyard.

Weeping women were clutching at the silver and gold mausoleum of Sayyida Zeinab, granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammed from his son Ali, revered by Shiites as the first imam.

"The shrine remains open and all employees have returned," said Dib Krayem, the director of the site. "We have held fruitful meetings with the new authorities, and they have entirely reassured us."

"HTS officials came to the shrine and gave assurances" over the issue of freedom of worship, he said.

Assad is an adherent of the Alawite offshoot of Shiite Islam who projected himself as a champion of minorities.

His ouster by the Sunnis of HTS -- proscribed as a terrorist group by Western government though it has recently sought to soften its image -- has sparked fears among many over the protection of other religious minorities.

But in an interview on Wednesday, HTS-appointed Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir sought to assure that the new authorities would guarantee the rights of all religious groups.

Krayem said the shrine welcomes "between 100,000 and 150,000 visitors" during key Shiite holidays, the majority of them coming from abroad.

- 'Blood has been spilled' -

Yet despite the assurances from Syria's new authorities, there is disquiet among many.

"Blood has been spilled," said one woman, who refused to give her name.

"We feel oppressed. I hope that they won't prevent us from practising our religious rites," she said, her face etched with worry.

Sayyida Zeinab mayor Jamal Awad said the suburb had welcomed "about 37,000 residents of Nabul and Zahra", two Shiite villages near Syria's second city of Aleppo in the north, who had fled the rebel offensive.

"All the residents of these villages, about 45,000 in total," had fled, he said.

Syria's small Shiite community, estimated at about 250,000 people, fears being caught in the crosshairs of the new administration, and of being accused of associating with Iran-backed groups who helped prop up Assad's rule.

Awad said that about a quarter of the residents of Nabul and Zahra had begun returning to their villages after HTS's assurances.

But for Ali, a resident of one of the villages who was visiting the shrine, "we came here seeking the protection of Sayyida Zeinab."