Shiite pilgrims make annual pilgrimage in Iraq amid regional upheaval Thousands of Shiite pilgrims dressed in black marched on Saturday, heading on foot toward the golden twin-domed shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim in the northwestern Baghdad district of al-Kadhimiyah.
The site in the Iraqi capital holds great religious significance for Shiite Muslims as it hosts the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim, the seventh of the Twelve Imams of Shiite Islam, who died in the late eighth century.
Assad was an ally of Iran, whose intervention helped him hang onto power during a nearly 14-year civil war before he was unseated last month in a lightning offensive led by the Sunni Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
This year, it comes amid seismic shifts in the region that have left many Shiites feeling vulnerable, including the fall of the government of Bashar Assad in neighboring Syria.
Iraqi security forces were deployed extensively to secure the annual event, which typically attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from across Iraq and beyond.
