A sizable number of Pakistani Shia youth have fought in Syria since 2013 as part of the Zainabiyoun armed militia, which was supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), for the ostensible purpose of protecting Shia holy sites. Most of their recruits were in their twenties and thirties, motivated by religious sentiment and a sense of youthful military adventurism. Abdul Basit, a Research Fellow at RSIS said that Iran exploited Zainab’s spiritual standing in Islam and coined emotive messages linked to her personality to recruit and mobilize Pakistani Shia youth. Zainab refers to the shrine of Prophet Muhammad’s granddaughter, a saintly figure in Islam.