With the end to the deadly Syrian war and the Syrian regime along with its prime supporters Russia and Iran establishing a solid base, the question that requires attention is to what will happen to all those so-called freedom and foreign fighters.

The Syrian war has given a very clear trajectory and the rise to intra Muslim theological proxy wars. The ground realities are different it is a war of theology between Iran’s Shia and Saudi Arabia Wahhabi (this includes many militant groups that have some affiliation).

Iran has perfected the proxy war method. It has established control over certain parts of Muslim via its proxies; Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen.

Most of the research and academic focus in the past and present is on Sunni militant or terrorist groups and their modes operand, however, the absence in the equation is Iran’s supported proxies is very dangerous.

Most scholars of Shia believe in velāyat-e faqīh/ Hokumat-i Eslami (Islamic Governance). Amongst the prominent points of their agenda are one is the tasroof (possession, seizure and or occupation) of all the ziyarat (places notably graves of the Prophet’s family). So far all of the ziyarat in Iran, Iraq, Syria have been under the Irani Shia control. The remaining and the most important is the Janaat el Baqi in Madina, Saudi Arabia is not in Irani Shia control. The first two steps have been achieved, however, the second step was to have strong foot holding near the border of Saudi Arabia Yemen., that has also been achieved.

Looking at the war in Yemen, it is clear that for Saudi Arabia and allies in this war has been nothing short of a military debacle. With material support for Yemeni Shia Houthe, Iran has started to knock at Saudi Arabia’s back door.

Since Iran’s Shia clergy more or less holds the flag for Shia theological propagation, it’s recruitment and funding are pretty cloudy.

In Pakistan and Afghanistan, the unabated proliferation of Iran funded Khana-e-Farhang (Iranian cultural centers) in both countries is the fuel that has been generating fighters for Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

“Little Iran” in Pakistan Parachinar (Kurram Agency) is a no-go area for Sunni Pakistani. During the Ashura and other Shia religious function charter buses are used to move Shia pilgrims but with drivers only to be of Christian and Hindu religion. No Sunnis are admitted.

For funding reasons, most of the Shia that are living in European countries and North America, Canada and the U.S. support these activate by financial and support staff. A lot of North American Shia non-profit organization provide financial help along with manpower in case of health care for Shia Fedayeen (religious fighters) and their families in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen.

While talking to one of the leading Shia activity organizers he said the following:

 Kurram and Parachinar are mainly Shia majority areas. They are the greatest enemy of ISIS. Takfiri Wahabi does not consider Shias as Muslim and has declared that Shias should be killed. In actuality all of the Sunnis are Yazidi and we think they must be treated that way.

These fighters were recruited from Parachinar areas primarily to defend the Holy Shrines in Syria particularly of Hazrat Zainab the granddaughter of Holy Prophet SAW and sister of Imam Hussain who was with him in Karbala. Please understand that ISIS had already decimated graves of Prophets. In Iraq, They partially destroyed shrines at Samara of Shia Imams.

This time around Shias have sworn to die protecting the shrines. Bomb blasts have not been able to diminish gathering at Karbala. Mourners gather from all over the world. We believe most of Sunnis support ISIL around the world. They [Sunnis] are children of the Zionist and Saudi American alliance. We have made a promise to our Imam that each and every one of us will support this cause. We don’t care if we live in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Europe, Canada or America, we will support his cause!

In Pakistan, some of the leading Sunni groups like Barēlwī groups, Majlis-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatme Nabuwwat, and Tablighi Jamaat lead by Tariq Jameel has formed a militant nexus to support and defend the sites of Shia.

The ongoing research has proven that this is very dangerous nexus between the Shia and certain Sunni groups has far-reaching ebb of dangerous consequences.