TEHRAN: A huge crowd flooded central Tehran in a sea of red and black on Wednesday to mourn a soldier who has become a symbol of the fight against the Islamic State group.
Last month’s capture and beheading of Mohsen Hojaji, a 25-year-old volunteer with the Revolutionary Guards, has triggered a rare outpouring of public support for Iran’s military campaigns in Syria and Iraq.
The stoic image of Hojaji standing with a brutal-looking IS militant holding a knife to his back went viral last month, and his memorial service filled Imam Hossein Square in Tehran and jammed the streets all around. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met Hojaji’s relatives ahead of the service, saying: "There are many martyrs and all are dear before God Almighty, but there is something special about this young man."
Iran has couched its support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in religious terms, calling its fighters "defenders of the shrines" in reference to monuments in Syria. The crowd in Tehran wore almost exclusively black and waved red flags to symbolise the blood of martyrs. Hugely popular singer Sadegh Ahangaran delivered an emotional lament of "We are defenders of the shrine until doomsday. Hey, mad knife-wielders, this house is full of Hojajis."