TEHRAN – The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met on Tuesday with a number of families of the so-called “defenders of the shrine.” 

Defenders of the shrine is a term used in Iran as a general reference to those who are martyred in the Syrian battleground in defense of holy places like the Zeinab shrine near Damascus, the burial place of a granddaughter of the Prophet Mohammad and one of the holiest shrines for Shias.
Over the past months, the Leader has received a number of the martyrs’ families.