Liwa Zainabiyoun

The Followers of Zainab Brigade (Arabic: لِوَاء الزَّيْنَبِيُون, romanized: Liwā' az-Zaynabīyūn, Persian: لواء زينبیون, romanized: Liwa Zeinabiyoun, Urdu: لواء زينبیون, romanized: Liwa Zaynabiyoun) also known as the Zainabiyoun Brigade, Lashkar-e-Zainabiyoun, or the Zainabiyoun Division, is a Shia Pakistani Khomeinist militia group. It was actively engaged in the Syrian Civil War against ISIL. It draws recruits mainly from ShiaPakistanis living in Iran, with some also from the Shia Muslim communities living in various regions of Pakistan, as well as ShiaAfghan refugees living in Pakistan. The Brigade had sent thousands of fighters to Syria, Iraq, and Yemen to fight against ISIL and other groups and factions under the support of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

It was formed and trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and operates under their command. Initially tasked with defending the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque, it entered frontlines since then across Syria, until 2024. Its dead are buried primarily in Iran. A minimum of 158 of their fighters had died in Syria as of March 2019 (based on publicly announced funeral services), excluding those killed in Israeli airstrikes. According to 2019 estimates, the total number of Pakistani fighters in the brigade barely exceeded 800.

Liwa Zainabiyoun's fighters also were limitedly involved in War in Iraq (2013–2017) and Yemeni civil war under the support of IRGC’s Quds Force as the Brigade is the part of Iran's Axis of Resistance.