The Iraqi fighters in the video shoulder assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades as they walk down a highway lined with cypress trees. Grinning, some hold up cellphones and camcorders to capture the moment — the aftermath of a victorious battle to secure Aleppo Airport from Syrian rebels who had attempted to take it.
"You are the sons of Iraq and the sons of Islam!" shouts one of their commanders. The men cheer.
Weeks later in Baghdad, Abu Sajad, the nom de guerre of an Iraqi militia commander who appears in the video, proudly displayed it as proof that Iraqi Shiites are playing a critical role in supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what has become an increasingly sectarian and regional war. It was impossible to verify the location and circumstances of the video.
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