BEIRUT: A rocket strike on the revered Islamic shrine in Damascus killed its custodian, activists and residents said, in an attack that could inflame sectarian tensions in Syria and beyond.
Residents said shrapnel killed Anas Romani, the respected caretaker of the gold-domed shrine of Sayyeda Zainab (AS) in the capitals southern suburbs, a renowned pilgrimage destination for Shias from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and beyond.
There were conflicting reports about damage to the shrine. Reuters quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across Syria, cited sources as saying the shrines blue-tiled sanctuary had been hit. But a local resident told Reuters the rockets landed outside the shrine.
Rebels fighting the Syrian government have repeately targeted the Sayyeda Zainab shrine, which is now protected by hundreds of fighters from Iraq and the powerful Lebanese Hezbollah group.
They have been helping Syrian President Bashar al Assads forces battle rebels backed by Saudi Arabia and the US, whom they accuse of threatening Shia symbols in Syria.
Syrias uprising-turned-civil war has sectarian dimensions that risk spilling over into neighboring Iraq and Lebanon, which have both suffered their own communal conflicts.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said protecting Sayyeda Zainab is vital for his group, which now openly acknowledges its involvement on Syrias battlefields, and has threatened grave retribution if any harm befalls the shrine.
ZAYNAB BINT ?AL? (c. AH 562; 626/7682 CE), daughter of ?Al? ibn Ab? ??lib and F??imah al-Zahr??, was the first granddaughter of the prophet Mu?ammad. She is best known for her courageous and eloquent role supporting her brother Im?m ?usayn, at the time of his martyrdom in the Battle of Karbala, and for protecting his family in the following months of Umayyad imprisonment.
Syrian rebels, dominated by Takfiri elements have earlier targetted the shrine twice in 2008 and 2012 causing extensive damage to it.
They aslo detonated another shrine revered by Shi’ites. Shrine of Hujr Bin Adi, a close companion of Prophet of Islam, was dynamited by the militants who view shrines as symbols of apostacy.
Thousands of Muslims, mostly Shia visit the shrine of Sayyeda Zainab round the year.
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